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AN EXPLORER IN THE AIR SERVICE 



AN EXPLORER IN THE 
AIR SERVICE 

BY 

HIRAM BINGHAM 

FORMERLY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, AIR SERVICE, U. S. A. 




NEW HAVEN 

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 

MDCCCCXX 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 






D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON. 



OEC 2! 1920 
©CLA604720 



TO 

ANNIE OLIVIA TIFFANY MITCHELL 

IN TOKEN OF AFFECTION 

AND GRATITUDE 



CONTENTS 

PREFACE xi 

I FIRST FLIGHTS 3 

II TORONTO AND THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS 14 

III WAR FEVER IN WASHINGTON 23 

IV ORGANIZING THE SCHOOLS OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS 33 
V SELECTING THE FITTEST 47 

VI THE PERSONNEL OFFICE IN WASHINGTON 56 

VII OVERSEAS 71 

VIII THE DISADVANTAGES OF BEING A PILOT 78 

IX THE PERSONNEL OFFICE IN TOURS 92 

X A FEW HOURS AT THE FRONT 107 

XI THE THIRD AVIATION INSTRUCTION CENTRE 116 

XII TRAINING AVIATORS 126 

XIII ADVANCED TRAINING FOR PURSUIT PILOTS 143 

XIV OBSERVATION AND NIGHT PURSUIT 170 
XV THE "PLANE NEWS" 180 

XVI THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT 190 

XVII IMPORTANT ACCESSORIES 199 

XVIII SHOULD THE GENERAL STAFF CONTROL THE AIR SERVICE? 217 

XIX THE FUTURE OF AVIATION 231 

APPENDIX 247 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing page 

Field 9 : Frontispiece 

Third Aviation Instruction Centre, Issoudun, France 

Miami : Accident 8 

Issoudun : 8 

Major Du Mesnil of the French Army decorating Captain 
H. S. Davis of Field 7 with the Croix de Guerre 

In event of motor failing don't turn back 16 

Landings should be made against -wind 24 

An Instructional Poster 32 
Tyfiical of many received from the Royal Flying Corps 

Nieuport 28-7, Monosoupape motor 40 

Nieuport 27-7, 120 H.P. Le Rhone motor 40 

Morane-Saulnier Monoplane, type 30, Monosoupape motor 46 

Spad, 225 H.P. Hispano-Suiza motor 46 

Redressing too high and stalling causes "pancaking'" 54 

Danger of landing -with wind — results of overshooting 70 

Issoudun: Field 8 78 

Nieuport 80, 23-meter, 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor 84 

Avro, 110 H.P. Le Rhone motor 84 

Ttvo of our Best Squadrons 98 

Formation Flying: Taking-ojf 108 

Formation Flying: Group 108 

Map of the Third Aviation Instruction Centre 116 

General Harbord^s Arrival at Issoudun 122 

Issoudun: Field 7 128 

Field 2 : Instructor and Student starting on a lesson 134 

Field 2: Nieuport 81, 23-meter, 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor 134 

Spiral 142 

Vrille or Spin 144 



x ILLUSTRATIONS 

Vertical Virage 146 

Renversement 148 

Wing Slip 150 

Method of Forming 152 

Right Angle or Cross-over Turn 156 

Taylor Stunt 158 

Luf berry Shorv 160 

View of part of Field 10 and a D. ZT.-4, Liberty motor 170 

Used on Night Flying: Sopwith Camel 174 

Nieupprt 33, 18-meter, 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor 174 

Plane News (October 9, 1918) 180 

Field 9'* Team in the Plane Assembling Competition: 184 

End of Part I, Wings removed and packed Plane ready 
for shipment on truck 

Plane Assembling Competition: 184 

Field 8's Team half through Part II, reassembling the Plane 

Plarie Assembling Competition: 186 

Part II, reassembling the Plane 

Plane Assembling Competition: 186 

End of Part III, taking out the Motor 

Plane Assembling Competition: 188 

Beginning of Part IF, putting the Motor back in position 

Plane Assembling Competition: 188 

Cheering the winning team from Field 14 

Issoudun: 196 

Assembly and Repair Hangars on the Main Field 

Issoudun: 204 

The Main Barracks, the " Y," the Red Cross, and the Quar- 
termaster Buildings 

Issoudun: Foreground 204 

Plane News (November 11, 1918) 214 



PREFACE 

THE writer began to fly at Miami in March, 
1917; was on duty at Aviation Headquarters 
in Washington from the first of May, 1917, until 
the first of April, 1918; was then on duty with the 
Chief of Air Service in the A. E. F. until the latter 
part of August, 1918; was in command of the Third 
Aviation Instruction Centre, Issoudun, until Christ- 
mas, 1918; and, on return to Washington, was again 
on duty at headquarters until March, 1919. 

This book is a record of observations made during 
those two years, and is concerned chiefly with avi- 
ation training. It is hoped that it will be of interest to 
those who were in the Air Service and their friends, 
besides being of some assistance to future students 
of military aeronautics. To many of the pilots it may 
explain the reasons for some of the sufferings which 
they endured. It may serve also as a warning of 
the evil of unpreparedness. Nearly all of the errors, 
mistakes, and delays to which it refers might have 
been avoided, had the American people insisted on 
having their representatives in Congress make suit- 
able preparation for an adequate army and a well- 
equipped Air Service in the event of our being thrown 
into the World War. 



xii PREFACE 

It may fairly be said that the Air Service was a 
genuine expression of the " American Idea," defined 
by Strunsky in one of his charming essays as "splen- 
did courage accompanied by a high degree of dis- 
order." We lacked men of experience; we lacked 
aviators of mature judgment; we lacked able exec- 
utive officers with a sympathetic knowledge of avia- 
tion ; we lacked airplanes fit to fly against the Huns ; 
and we lacked facilities for building them. The air- 
plane industry was still in the experimental stage. 
No one really manufactured airplanes in the gener- 
ally accepted sense of that word. No one had even 
had any experience in the quantity production of 
airplane motors. Yet in July, 1917, Congress appro- 
priated $640,000,000, in the fond expectation that 
before many months we could obtain 22,000 air- 
planes. In other words, America expected to win 
the war in the air and was utterly unprepared to do 
so. The American people laid an impossible task on 
the shoulders of the officers and citizens who obedi- 
ently undertook to produce on a gigantic scale, and 
without adequate plans, one of the most difficult arms 
of modern warfare. 

There is no question but that the Air Service suf- 
fered because of its newness and because it was 



PREFACE xiii 

expected to grow in such an incredibly short time 
from a relatively insignificant part of the regular 
army to a force more than twice as large as that 
army was before 1917. 

When we entered the war, the Air Service had 
2 small flying fields, 48 officers, 1330 men, and 225 
planes, not one of which was fit to fly over the lines. 
In the course of a year and a half this Air Service 
grew to 50 flying fields, 20,500 officers, 175,000 
men, and 17,000 planes. It was my good fortune to 
witness this growth at close range, particularly as 
regards the flying personnel. 

Among the many officers and men whose devo- 
tion to the cause of their country led them to help me 
with all their strength in the work in which we hap- 
pened to be engaged together were: Major J. Robert 
Moulthrop, whose long interest in military history 
and whose natural tact and excellent judgment made 
his assistance in conducting the Schools of Military 
Aeronautics of inestimable value; Colonel W. E. 
Gilmore, who bore the brunt of the attack when 
I was Chief of Air Personnel in Washington, and 
who, with large-hearted generosity, gave freely 
from the wisdom acquired in his twenty years of ser- 
vice in the regular army ; Colonel Walter G. Kilner, 



xiv PREFACE 

whose ability as soldier, aviator, and executive were 
excelled only by his loyalty to those who had the 
good fortune to serve under him as I did ; Lieutenant- 
Colonel Phil. A. Carroll, a pioneer among Reserve 
Military Aviators, whose friendly counsel on in- 
numerable occasions helped me out of many diffi- 
culties; and Major Tom G. Lanphier, former star 
full-back at West Point, veteran of the machine gun 
defence at Chateau-Thierry and born flyer, whose 
faithful cooperation as my executive officer at Issou- 
dun was indispensable to success. 

I only wish it were possible to mention by name 
all of the officers and men with whom, at one time 
or another, I had the honor to be associated. They 
made me proud of being an American. In the face of 
blind unpreparedness, stupendous obstacles, and the 
necessity for utmost haste they strove valiantly and 
unremittingly to make the Air Service worthy of 
American traditions. Our chief regret was that we 

were not sent earlier into the conflict. 

Hiram Bingham 
Tale University, May, 1 920 



Acknowledgments are gratefully made to their editors for permis- 
sion to make use of articles that have appeared in " The U. S. Air 
Service" "Historical Outlook," " The Outlook," "Aircraft Journal," 
and" Asia." 



AN EXPLORER IN THE AIR SERVICE 



CHAPTER I 

FIRST FLIGHTS 

IN the latter part of 191 6, 1 had the opportunity of hear- 
ing Mr. Herbert Bayard Swope of the New York World 
tell of conditions in Germany as he had seen them that 
summer. He convinced me of several things which had not 
been clear in the censored press despatches. One was that 
the British Navy had by no means solved the problem of 
the German submarines, although the small number of sink- 
ings at that time was so interpreted in our newspapers. A 
corollary was that Germany was voluntarily restraining her 
piratical activities until such time as she could secure enough 
submarines to make an overwhelming drive on trans-oceanic 
commerce. And, finally, that such a drive was coming be- 
fore very long. This information from such a well-posted 
source led me to the conclusion, about the first of December, 
that we should be at war with Germany within six months. 
My next thought naturally was the question : In what field 
would my training as an explorer offer the best opportunity 
for service? Personal experience with mules, Spanish Ameri- 
cans, pack oxen, Indians, ruined Inca cities, and Andean 
highlands would be of little use in France! 

A few days later, a distinguished member of the Yale 
Mathematical Faculty brought back from a scientific meet- 
ing in Boston news regarding the remarkable progress that 
aviation was making on the western front. Major-General 
George O. Squier, then Lieutenant-Colonel in the Signal 



4 AN EXPLORER 

Corps, had just returned from many months of service as 
American Military Attache with the British Army. Himself 
a scientific investigator of the first rank — one of the few 
army officers to have taken a Ph.D. "on the side," after grad- 
uating from West Point, and while serving as a Second 
Lieutenant at an army post not far from Johns Hopkins 
University — he had thrilled his hearers at the Boston meet- 
ing with a vivid account of the hundreds of airplanes 
then in use, and which the censor had permitted us to learn 
little or nothing about. General Squier's contagious enthu- 
siasm and his remarkable vision had so infected my friend, 
the mathematician, that I too caught the disease and be- 
came a crank on "Winning the War in the Air." 

A fortunate circumstance took me to Baltimore about this 
time, where Professor J. S. Ames of Johns Hopkins, a keen 
student of aerodynamics, confirmed my belief that a rapid 
development of the Allied Air Service was the best way to 
defeat Germany quickly. Another bit of good fortune enabled 
me to go to Miami, Florida, in February, 1917, and there to 
talk with Glenn Curtiss, perhaps the most daring of all Ameri- 
can inventors. His fondness for going faster than anybody 
else — and his willingness to be content with doing it only 
once — had led him to make a remarkable number of records, 
both on land and sea, as well as in the air. With Orville 
Wright, he represented America's leadership in the early 
development of practical flying. His assurance that any one 
who could ride horseback and sail a boat could learn to fly, 
and the remarkable record for safety made by his flying 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 5 

boats, led me to decide to attempt some flights. His statement 
that there were at that time less than twenty -five competent 
flying instructors in the United States seemed to open the 
door of opportunity. 

Although then forty -one years old, it seemed to me that 
with the experience I had had in riding mules for months 
at a time in Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru, there was some 
hope that the new field of exploration might not prove too dif- 
ficult, especially as I have also always been fond of sailing. 
My first flight was on March 3. The roar of the engine and 
the terrific wind pressure encountered in sitting out in front 
on the old F type flying boat spoiled the pleasure and nearly 
overcame the thrill of that first experience. For two weeks 
I took frequent flights with Harold Kantner over the beau- 
tiful waters of Biscayne Bay. Kantner's skill as pilot, and 
the experience which he had gained during the months that 
he had been employed in teaching flying in the Italian Navy, 
gave me great confidence in his ability. Nevertheless, I looked 
with envy on the more speedy army planes. On March 17, 1 
had my first ride in a land machine, a JN-4, piloted by Roger 
Jannus. For a time I took lessons on both land and water, 
but after about ten hours' work in the flying boat, gave it up 
for "military tractors," as we called them then. 

The report of the Executive Committee of the National 
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, published about this 
time by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, gave me the information 
that larger plans were being made for aeronautics in the 
army than in the navy. The army had more room for be- 



6 AN EXPLORER 

ginners, so my first idea of going in for sea-plane flying was 
given up in order to learn all I could about military, as dis- 
tinguished from naval, aeronautics. 

Fortunately, the Curtiss Company had established a school 
near Miami, where some forty or fifty Sergeants in the Avia- 
tion Section of the Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps were being 
taught to fly at the expense of the Government. A few civil- 
ians were admitted, and, thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Cur- 
tiss, I was permitted to enjoy the privileges of the school. 
In the light of what America afterwards did in the way 
of flying schools, that school now seems ridiculously small 
and inadequate, but considering the facilities which then 
existed, we felt that we were fortunate indeed. There were 
generally three or four planes in commission, but sometimes 
only one. A severe hail-storm, which came at a time when 
there were no hangars at the school, made more than two 
hundred holes in the wings of the oldest, and put all "ships" 
out of commission for a while. 

Accidents were frequent. Connecting-rods broke in mid- 
air and frightened new pilots by smashing holes in crank 
cases. Roger Jannus went up one day to test out a newly 
assembled plane, and while turning a loop had the novel 
experience of having his propeller fly to pieces. His great 
skill as a pilot, however, stood him in good stead, and he 
made a perfect landing on the usual little bit of turf known 
as the airdrome. Inspection of what was left of the hub of 
the propeller showed that the fault was with some dishon- 
est propeller manufacturer. The first series of holes bored 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 7 

for the bolts which were to fasten it in place had been aban- 
doned and plugged up. This naturally weakened the hub 
to such an extent that as soon as any strain was put upon 
it, the solid wood that was left gave way and the propeller 
disappeared. 

We thought little of possible interior injury to planes. 
My first solo flight was made on an old ship that had been 
turned over on its back twice during the preceding forty- 
eight hours; in each case a new propeller had been put 
on, a cabane and a strut had been renewed, and that was 
all. We did n't worry about the longerons. We were glad 
enough to get a chance to fly at all. 

One day the student whose turn preceded mine had 
engine failure after he had been up about seven minutes. 
As soon as his engine stopped he switched off the magneto 
and glided in, over-reaching the small field and landing in 
the long grass and shrubs. The mechanics at once went 
out to see what the matter was, made a successful at- 
tempt to start the engine, listened long enough to convince 
themselves there was nothing wrong, and then hauled the 
plane back to the landing field. The young pilot was rep- 
rimanded for having made an unnecessary landing and 
told to go up again, which he declined to do. So the ma- 
chine was handed over to me. Two days before, I had 
made my first solo flight, and this was to be my third 
attempt without a teacher. The motor started off well and I 
had attained some little altitude after flying for about seven 
minutes, when the motor unaccountably stopped. I switched 



8 AN EXPLORER 

off and started to glide for the field, when it occurred to me 
that this trouble might not be anything serious and would 
only lead to my getting reprimanded as had my predecessor, 
so I switched on again, and to my delight the engine took hold 
and went very nicely for about a minute. Various switch- 
ings on and off succeeded in making the motor run occa- 
sionally, until I noticed that the wind was driving me some 
distance away from that little spot of dried everglade land 
that meant safety. Between me and the airdrome, how- 
ever, was one of the dredged everglade drainage canals 
with twenty-five or thirty feet of limestone rock piled up 
on each bank. If I had to land this side of the canal, it 
would mean being tipped upside down, for the dried muck 
was too soft to allow the landing wheels to run on it. Con- 
sequently, the temptation to extend the glide and get over 
the canal to the hard ground beyond was irresistible. 
Then, too, the engine occasionally gave a burst or two which 
helped for a few seconds at a time. I got over the first bank 
of the canal all right, and by nosing down toward the 
water picked up just enough speed to clear the other bank 
and enable me to pancake in the sand on the edge of the 
airdrome. Fortunately, no damage was done. It certainly 
was wonderful what those old JN-4's could stand. 

By the time the mechanics got out to the plane, they 
were able to start up the engine. It ran nicely for a few 
minutes — then stopped. After a while somebody found out 
what was the trouble. The night before, an enthusiastic 




Miami : The next day after this accident happened I was 
sent up for my first solo flight in this same ship 




Issoudun: Major Du Mesnil of the French Army 

decorating- Captain R. S. Davis of Field 7 with the Croix de Guerre 

for bravery shoxvn during his month at the Front 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 9 

pilot, in his mad desire to get in a few moments' flying 
before dark, had hastily filled the gas tank and taken his 
flight without putting back the ventilated screw top. He 
went home with it in his pocket. The next morning the 
"sergeant" whose duty it was to fill the tank, not being able 
to locate the proper plug, hunted around in the little ma- 
chine shop until he found one that fitted and thoughtlessly 
put it on, although it had no air vent in it. Consequently, 
after a little gasoline had run down out of the tank into 
the carburetor, a partial vacuum formed and prevented 
the engine from getting any gas until some air could leak 
in and release a little. Hence the strange behavior of what 
might have been a badly crashed engine. 

One day a newly assembled plane, the wings of which 
were not exactly of the same pattern, was piloted by an inex- 
perienced teacher who had with him a new pupil on his first 
or second flight. They got into a tail spin and fell over 1500 
feet, making a complete crash. The engine was partially 
buried in the ground, and the plane was so flattened out that 
hardly any of it was more than a foot above the surface. 
It seemed like a miracle that neither one of the occupants 
was killed. Both of them were out of the hospital and 
hobbling around in about ten days. It gave us more con- 
fidence to see what might happen without a fatal ending. 

There was plenty of opportunity to learn practical rig- 
ging and fitting. Tom Dee, who had been with the Curtiss 
Company for several years and who had forgotten more 



10 AN EXPLORER 

about airplanes than most of us would ever learn, was 
always willing to teach us how to repair damaged planes. 
But he had no use for loafers or gamblers. 

One day Sergeant (later Captain) Blake arrived as the 
Government representative. He had been in the Signal 
Corps for many years and was an excellent type of the old 
regular army sergeant. He had rather a hard time with 
the noisy group of ambitious young pilots, who were im- 
patient at delays in securing proper training equipment, 
and who saw little to be gained in doing "squads right" 
for an hour in the broiling tropical sun. Nevertheless, they 
stuck to it faithfully. In the course of the next year and 
a half several of them made enviable records in the Air 
Service. At least four were promoted to Captaincies. Most 
conscientious of all and most uniformly cheerful in the per- 
formance of his duty was Hamilton Coolidge of Groton 
and Harvard, who later earned the Distinguished Service 
Cross, and was one of the American Aces. He was killed 
by a direct hit from an anti-aircraft gun. 

Others included John Mitchell, who also became a Cap- 
tain in the Air Service and commanded a squadron at the 
Front; Fred Harvey, born flyer, who was so greatly ap- 
preciated that he was not permitted to go abroad until 
shortly before the Armistice was signed; and Arthur Rich- 
mond, who, like Harvey, was promoted to a Captaincy for 
distinguished service in American training schools, but, 
although he spoke French fluently, was denied the privi- 
lege of getting to France. Never in my life have I felt so 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 11 

old as I did during the two months of association with 
this brilliant group of young pilots, who had all been born 
while I was in college or since I had graduated, and whose 
youth and skill were to entitle them to render most merito- 
rious and distinguished service in helping to win the war 
in the air. 

As soon as war was declared, I telegraphed the Adjutant-' 
General to ask that my former commission as Captain in the 
Tenth Field Artillery, Connecticut National Guard, the so- 
called "Yale Batteries," which I had resigned after the regi- 
ment was demobilized, be renewed, and that I be given flying 
duty. His reply was an application blank for the Aviation 
Section of the Signal Officers Reserve Corps. This I filled 
out and sent with a letter to General Squier telling him why 
it seemed to me that, even though well past the pilot's age 
limit of thirty years, I might be of use at least as an instruc- 
tor in the Air Service. On April 30 I passed my final test 
for the Aero Club license and was bre vetted as an "aviator 
pilot." The next day, greatly to my joy, I had a telegram 
from General Squier asking me to come to Washington 
immediately to assist in selecting and training aviators. 
Needless to say, I took the next train. 

General Squier had recently been made Chief Signal Offi- 
cer of the Army, and as such was in charge of all army Air 
Service activities. He explained that he had sent for me be- 
cause he believed my experience in exploration and teach- 
ing, with the few months of intensive military training with 
the Yale Batteries and flying at Miami, had given me good 



12 AN EXPLORER 

preparation for the new undertaking. He said the first thing 
to do was to go to Toronto. 

Just what I was to do in Toronto, apart from the fact that 
representatives of several universities were to meet me there, 
was not quite clear, but General Squier said that if I would 
simply announce my arrival in Washington to Dr. William 
F. Durand, the Executive Secretary of the National Advis- 
ory Committee for Aeronautics, he would explain the whole 
situation and tell me what to do. Dr. Durand's office was in 
the Munsey Building, that busy hive which contained so 
many of the activities of the National Council of Defense, 
and which at that time seemed to be the home of most of the 
dollar-a-year men. He greeted me with the disconcerting 
question, "What brings you to Washington?" 

However, matters were soon explained and he very kindly 
gave me letters of introduction to the representatives of the 
Universities of California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Cornell, and 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who had been 
invited to go to Toronto to see how the University of Toronto 
was cooperating with the Royal Flying Corps in giving 
ground school training to "would-be" military aviators. No 
one appeared to know exactly how the plan was to be worked 
out in this country. 

The fact was, that our national policy of unpreparedness 
had brought us actually into the greatest of all wars without 
adequate plans for training aviators, although every one 
knew we would need them by the hundred. 

It may not be out of place to state here that during the 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 13 

first few months of my duty in Washington, the officer who, 
under General Squier, was in immediate charge of the Avi- 
ation Section of the Signal Corps, was not a pilot, had only 
been up once or twice, was frankly afraid to fly even as an 
observer, and went so far as to say to me that for the father 
of seven sons to take flying lessons showed that he did not 
love his children. I could not help wondering whether the 
Secretary of War would expect an officer who was afraid of 
riding horseback to direct the fortunes of the Mounted Ser- 
vice School or even command a cavalry regiment success- 
fully. 



CHAPTER II 

TORONTO AND THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS 

THE contrast between Washington and Toronto in the 
first week of May, 1917, was very striking. Both cit- 
ies were at war, but one had scarcely begun to realize it as 
yet, while the other could not forget it for a minute. Wash- 
ington was at that time scarcely any different from its ordi- 
nary self during the sessions of Congress. Our army officers 
were not in uniform, although we had been at war nearly a 
month. The orders came a week or two later. I never suc- 
ceeded in discovering whether the delay was caused by the 
disinclination of the Secretary of War to change from a 
peace to a war basis, or whether some of the higher staff 
officers, who had been putting on weight at Washington for 
a number of years without the necessity of wearing service 
uniforms, caused the delay in order that they might have 
time to get proper sizes made before the order was published! 
Toronto was full of men in uniform — officers driving 
madly about in Government cars ; crippled soldiers sunning 
themselves on warm corners near great hospitals; gigantic 
posters urging further enlistments ; recruits training in quiet 
streets. Toronto did more than her share toward providing 
those splendid troops that Canada so early sent to the west- 
ern front. The clubs and hotels of Washington were filled 
with eager men in the prime of life anxious to find some way 
of serving their country. The hotels and clubs in Toronto, 
if you overlooked the presence of officers who had been in- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 15 

valided home, were sad and deserted, most of the men bearing 
marks of anxiety or signs of mourning. 

Among the soldiers in Toronto, none carried themselves 
with quite such a swagger and none saluted their officers 
so smartly as those who wore in white letters across their 
sleeves the words "Royal Flying Corps ; " and incidentally, 
none seemed to have so many admirers on the street. Many 
of them had recently come over from England to aid in 
carrying out the new project whereby Canadian aviators 
and their more venturesome friends from across the bor- 
der might receive preliminary and advanced training before 
being sent abroad. 

Our conference at Toronto was most interesting. Three 
professors from each of the selected universities, chosen in 
the main from the technical faculties, came prepared to 
spend several days in visiting the flying schools, attending 
classes at the School of Military Aeronautics at the Univer- 
sity of Toronto, and listening to veterans of the World War. 

We were most courteously received by General (then 
Lieutenant-Colonel) Hoare and Major Allen at the head- 
quarters of the Royal Flying Corps and given every facility 
for studying their methods of administration and the course 
of study which they had laid down. We were furnished 
with typewritten copies of all the lectures used at their 
School of Military Aeronautics, and were given sets of text- 
books and service regulations. Everything was done to make 
us feel that although we had been unaccountably long in 
joining the common cause against the Hun, now that we 



16 AN EXPLORER 

had come in, we were to be on a basis of perfect equality 
with those who had been sacrificing everything for two 
years and a half. 

On the day following our arrival, it was arranged that 
we should go out to Camp Borden, some seventy-five miles 
from Toronto. At that time this was by far the largest and 
most important flying field outside of Europe. We were 
proud to find it commanded by an American, once the cap- 
tain of a victorious Harvard crew, Major Oliver D. Filley. 
He had been one of the first Americans to join the British 
forces in the war, and had been for many months on the 
western front. Seriously injured in an airplane accident, 
he had recovered sufficiently to be placed in charge of this 
great school. Afterwards he accepted General Squier's in- 
vitation to come into our service, was commissioned Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, placed in charge of the Observers' School 
at Fort Sill, and later had charge of training American Hand- 
ley Page squadrons in England. 

Colonel Filley gave us a most instructive day, the best 
part of which was the opportunity to converse with the 
most experienced officers of the Royal Flying Corps who 
were on his staff. He knew what sort of boys we would 
have to train and emphasized the kind of personnel needed. 
He impressed it upon the university representatives that 
the pilot was far from being a " flying chauffeur," as some 
seemed to think. True, his power came from a gasoline 
motor and the wheels beneath him were protected by pneu- 
matic tires, but here the simile ended. "As a matter of fact," 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 17 

said the Colonel, "the pilot is more like the knight of old, 
or the modern cavalry officer ; he must first of all be (to quote 
the hackneyed phrase) an officer and a gentleman." He must 
be the kind of man whose honor is never left out of con- 
sideration. He must be as highly educated as possible in 
order that he may the more readily learn to adapt himself to 
rapidly changing tactics of the land army as well as the air 
forces. He must be resourceful, keen, quick, and determined. 
The Colonel said that polo players and football quarterbacks 
made excellent pilots. He did not recommend crew men! 
A never-to-be-forgotten impression was made on the dele- 
gation by Captain Bell-Irving, the officer in charge of the 
repair shop, a member of a British Columbia family which 
greatly distinguished itself in the war. Captain Bell-Irving 
had been in the first Canadian force to be sent over, and 
after having been on the western front for some time, and 
wounded once or twice, had joined the Flying Corps and 
become a pilot in an observation squadron. One day his ob- 
server had succeeded in securing some very important pho- 
tographs, when a shrapnel ball from a German anti-aircraft 
battery struck him in the temple, passed above his eye, and 
lodged itself above the brain. At first he was unconscious, 
then as the machine fell out of control he regained con- 
sciousness, and instinctively realized the precarious condi- 
tion of his observer and the importance of getting his pho- 
tographs back within the British lines. Wiping the blood 
from his face with his sleeve, he successfully piloted the 
machine back for nine miles and landed in safety not far 



18 AN EXPLORER 

from his own airdrome before again becoming unconscious. 
The bullet was still in his head, since the surgeons had not 
dared to attempt to extract it, and at times it gave him 
frightful pain so that he could scarcely see. But he was 
doing splendid work in his new job and was full of coura- 
geous optimism. His few words of assurance that it was 
most important to select the pilots with great care sank 
deeply into the hearts of the men who were to be the guid- 
ing spirits in the new United States Schools of Military 
Aeronautics and left a profound impression. 

It was borne in on us by all those with whom we talked 
that the first necessity in the Air Service was to get the 
right type of personnel : fellows of quick, clear intelligence, 
mentally acute and physically fit; that the next thing was 
to make soldiers of them and teach them the value of mili- 
tary discipline; finally, that we should eliminate the unfit 
as fast as possible and avoid giving them flying instruction 
unless they proved themselves to be morally, physically, and 
mentally worthy of receiving the most expensive education 
in the world. 

The next few days were spent attending as many classes 
as possible in the buildings of the university, where the 
Royal Flying Corps had established its local School of 
Military Aeronautics. 

The adjutant of the school, a keen, young, wounded vet- 
eran of the war, was the son of one of the professors at the 
university whose name is well known in our historical cir- 
cles. I mention this relationship because it enables me to 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 19 

illustrate how much better our Allies kept their military 
secrets than we did. The day after seeing the great flying 
school at Camp Borden, I had the honor of lunching with 
this officer's mother and father. The president of the uni- 
versity was one of the guests. The conversation naturally 
travelled around to aviation, and the wonder was expressed 
as to where the Royal Flying Corps would put its new big 
flying school. It had been on the tip of my tongue to speak 
about our amazement at what we had seen the day before 
at Camp Borden, when I suddenly realized that the secret 
of what was being done out there was so well kept that 
neither the president of the university which was housing 
the ground school, nor the father and mother of the young 
veteran aviator, who was its adjutant, was aware of what 
was going on. In the course of time, the work at Camp 
Borden came to be well known, but this incident and the 
caution of our Allies gave us American delegates a new 
sense of the importance of keeping our mouths shut con- 
cerning the things that were so generously laid open to us. 
It made us appreciate all the more the hearty cooperation 
of our new allies, and we marvelled at their willingness to 
offer us so freely all the secrets that they had learned at the 
cost of so much blood and treasure. 

We found that the University of Toronto was supplying 
the Royal Flying Corps with buildings and grounds, but 
that most of the instructors were veterans of the western 
front, either pilots who had been injured or become stale, or 
non-commissioned officers of long experience as sergeant-in- 



20 AN EXPLORER 

structors. While we could not hope to secure similar teaching 
personnel for our own Schools of Military Aeronautics, it 
was believed that by using trained instructors and giving 
them the very latest information as a basis for their lectures, 
we might not fall so very far behind our model. 

Conferences with various instructors at the ground school 
developed the fact — which we had occasion later to notice 
repeatedly — that the veterans of the western front differed 
radically on the importance of the various subjects of study 
and the necessity for their being taught more or less thor- 
oughly. All were agreed, however, that undisciplined, un- 
military pilots were extremely undesirable, and that any 
youth who followed individualistic tendencies to such a de- 
gree as to make him appear to be a poor soldier should not 
be trained as a pilot. They said he would soon come to grief 
over the lines where team play was so essential, and where 
the carrying out of missions exactly as ordered was so easy 
to avoid if the pilot were so inclined, or preferred to " go 
after a Hun." 

We learned that the principle was adopted of admitting 
a new class of students each week and graduating them as 
they were needed in the flying school. The idea was to fur- 
nish a steady stream of pupils to the teachers of preliminary 
flying and to eliminate the undesirables at the relatively 
inexpensive ground school before they should have any op- 
portunity of wasting the valuable time of flying instructors 
and the very expensive facilities offered on an airdrome. We 
felt that we could not do better than to copy as nearly as 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 21 

possible the curriculum adopted by the Royal Flying Corps 
after more than two years of war. On the advice of several 
of the chief instructors, we enlarged the course in various 
particulars so as to make it cover eight weeks instead of 
six. Later, this was still further extended. Great stress was 
laid on the importance of developing ability to observe artil- 
lery lire and to cooperate with both artillery and infantry. 
The importance of a thorough knowledge of the machine 
gun, the internal combustion motor, and wireless telegraphy 
was emphasized. We decided to adopt the British method 
of dividing the course into two parts : the first, of three 
weeks, chiefly military studies and infantry drill ; the sec- 
ond, of five weeks, technical aeronautics, with particular 
emphasis on guns and motors. 

These preliminaries having been decided, and a tenta- 
tive programme of studies adopted, the delegates hastened 
back to their respective universities to rush the preparation 
for students who had already passed their entrance examina- 
tions as given by the Aviation Examining Boards in various 
cities, and who were anxious to commence their training, 
even though it meant first going to a ground school instead 
of being immediately put in an airplane, as so many of them 
hoped would be the case. 

Our meetings in Toronto were concluded on May 11. 
Ten days later the six new Schools of Military Aeronau- 
tics were ready to receive, and were actually receiving, their 
first students. Of course special faculty meetings had to be 
held, trustees had to vote credits, laboratories and classrooms 



22 AN EXPLORER 

had to be hastily adjusted to meet new demands, lectures on 
new subjects had to be prepared from the material obtained 
in Toronto, and plans made to receive a small army post 
under the command of a recent graduate of West Point 
and San Diego. In one case, at the University of California, 
ground was immediately broken on the campus for a new 
building whose plans had been drawn on the train by the 
Toronto delegates, a building designed to accommodate ex- 
actly the needs of the new school. In every case, serious dis- 
locations had to be quickly performed. It seemed incredible 
that they could be ready in ten days. Small wonder that 
General Squier endorsed my letter of May 13, informing 
him that the universities would be able to commence in- 
struction in the cadet schools not later than Monday, May 
21: "Splendid. Am much pleased. Go ahead full steam." 
And the universities made good ! 

If one did not know the tremendous loyalty and self- 
sacrifice that pervades American universities, their imme- 
diate response to the new demands of the Army Air Service 
would have been incredible. Had it only been as easy to build 
training planes and to obtain well-equipped flying schools 
as it was to secure the full cooperation of enthusiastic, high 
grade universities and use their equipment, the problem of 
sending American aviators to the Front would have been 
very much simpler. 



CHAPTER III 

WAR FEVER IN WASHINGTON 

ON my return to Washington on May 13, the city 
looked more warlike, for in the mean time orders had 
been issued that all officers on active duty should wear service 
uniforms. At the same time this brought out an amusing 
feature of our unpreparedness which was particularly strik- 
ing to one who had just been associating with the appro- 
priately uniformed officers of the Royal Flying Corps. They 
wore wings, but none of them wore spurs, while at Wash- 
ington the officers in the Aviation Section of the Signal 
Corps wore spurs, but did not wear wings. About six 
months later, our military aviators were authorized by the 
General Staff to wear wings, but when wearing boots were 
still obliged to wear spurs. Six months later, the War Col- 
lege, after we had been at war for a year, woke up to the 
ridiculous side of forcing aviators to wear spurs, when ob- 
viously from their wings they used airplanes and not horses, 
and issued a new regulation that aviators when wearing boots 
would not wear spurs. This was permitted, however, only 
as long as we were actively engaged in war, and in the fol- 
lowing December the rule was changed back again, so that 
when I returned from France in January, 1919, I received 
a similar shock to this one after my first visit to Toronto, 
and found the unfortunate aviator once more compelled to 
wear spurs when wearing boots. 

It would be interesting to delve into the inner conscious- 



24 AN EXPLORER 

ness of the dear old boys down in the sancta sanctorum of the 
War College. It is a queer sense of humor that requires 
a field officer, who in the course of his duties suddenly is 
called upon to mount his winged steed, to divest himself of 
his spurs and put them in his pocket for safety. I speak the 
more feelingly on this matter because of one Sunday after- 
noon at Potomac Park, when I was invited unexpectedly to 
fly with Colonel Lee of the Royal Flying Corps and had to 
listen to the laughter of the crowd while I took off my spurs. 
It would not have been so bad had I not been wearing wings 
at the same time. However, we were not the only branch or 
the only army to suffer from archaic uniform regulations. A 
post-bellum issue of Punch portrays the embarrassment of 
a natty young railroad transportation officer, smartly clad 
in very "horsey" regalia, roughly accosted by an infantry 
colonel just returned at the head of a victorious regiment, 
who inquired whether the "engines were feeling/m^T/ this 
morning." 

On the other hand, the courtesy of the regular officers of 
the permanent establishment to the newly appointed reserve 
officers during the early months of the war, when we were 
all so green, made so many mistakes, and had so much to 
learn of army procedure, was particularly noticeable. It was 
very pleasant and gave one a feeling of being part of a cor- 
dial family organization to have the older regular officers 
meet a stranger on the street with their hearty " Good morn- 
ing" when one appeared in uniform. This gracious recogni- 
tion of the old army, however, soon died out as Washington 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 25 

became swamped by the inrush of several thousand reserve 
officers who had not been accustomed to bowing to a stran- 
ger merely because he wore the uniform of the United 
States Army. 

As we look back from this distance and have in mind 
the enormous structures which were built in Washington 
in 1918 to meet the requirements of the War Depart- 
ment, it is amazing to note the inadequate preparations and 
the small vision of the requirements that prevailed in May 
and June, 1917. Previous to our entry into the war, the 
War Department apparently had made no plans as to 
what it would do in case we were suddenly called upon 
to become one of the great military nations in the world. 
When the war, that is, our part in it, began, the Adjutant- 
General's office, as I was told by one of the best informed 
members of the General Staff, was receiving about three 
thousand communications a day, and these were being 
handled by six or eight officers and an adequate force of 
trained clerks. Foreseeing in some degree that an addi- 
tional force would be required, the number of officers and 
clerks was merely doubled after we entered the war. On the 
particular day on which I made my inquiries as to why a 
certain communication had received no attention for nearly 
two weeks, I was informed that the incoming mail that morn- 
ing at the Adjutant-General's office consisted of over forty 
thousand pieces, or about thirteen times as much as at the 
beginning of the war, while the office force was still only 
twice as large. Of course this was altered later, but it seemed 



26 AN EXPLORER 

to me at the time an adequate explanation of the reason 
why my own communication had not been answered more 
promptly. 

During the month of May and part of June, my office, 
as Director of the United States Schools of Military Aero- 
nautics, consisted of a desk in a small room where, besides 
myself and two assistants, there was also located the desk 
of Captain (later Colonel) Aubrey Lippincott, who was in 
charge of the personnel division of the Air Service; two other 
officers, who were in charge of the personnel of the Signal 
Corps proper,and Mr. W. M. Redding, whose sixteen years 
of service as one of the principal clerks in the office of the 
Chief Signal Officer made him an indispensable source of 
information as regards procedure and many other details. 
From this small room, then, for several weeks went out 
practically all of the correspondence covering the personnel 
of the Signal Corps as well as that of the Air Service, in ad- 
dition to that concerned with the ground schools. But that 
was not all, for here between the hours of ten in the morning 
and four in the afternoon, we were subjected to a stream 
of callers, who wanted important information on every con- 
ceivable subject. In June we moved over to the Mills Build- 
ing, where the "Schools Division" had at least one room, 
but this was speedily filled up with the desks of assistants, 
clerks, and stenographers until there was scarcely a chair 
for our importunate callers. 

It may be interesting to know that within six months 
of the time when we were all huddled together in that little 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 27 

room on the fourth floor of the State, War, and Navy Build- 
ing, the Air Personnel Division had begun to use the ser- 
vices of fifty officers and two hundred and fifty clerks, while 
the Schools of Military Aeronautics Division required the 
services of a dozen officers and forty clerks. Our growth was 
attended by many difficulties and numerous moves. Each 
move caused lossof time, misplacementof papers, and delays 
which were disappointing, and were often misunderstood / 
by our friends and correspondents. As a matter of fact, the 
Schools Division moved five times in about as many months. 
These were feverish days of living from hand to mouth. 
One never knew from week to week what new conditions 
would have to be met either physically or mentally. 

One of my first tasks was to have copies made of the lec- 
tures used by the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto and send 
these copies out to our new schools as fast as possible. There 
were practically no stenographers available for this pur- 
pose, but fortunately I was able to have the original lec- 
tures photostated and sent out in this form. 

While in the throes of trying to do a dozen things at 
once, so as to give the greatest possible amount of assist- 
ance to the universities that were struggling with their 
new problems, I was suddenly presented with a highly 
trained and most enthusiastic assistant, Frank C. Page. 
General Squier had known him at the Embassy in Lon- 
don and gave him a commission as Captain, which was 
later increased to that of Major. What I should have done 
without Major Page during the next few months is diffi- 



28 AN EXPLORER 

cult to imagine. His knowledge of aeronautics as well as 
his editorial ability and his acquaintance with the ways of 
the War Department enabled him to start right in, on the 
day the General asked him to become my assistant, and with- 
out a moment's hesitation to become immensely helpful. 

General Squier, while wisely avoiding the tyranny of 
details and refusing to become discouraged by, or inter- 
ested in, the difficulties which he believed should be solved 
by his subordinates, had a most remarkable way of gath- 
ering in useful people to help the Air programme. He was 
quick to realize that, notwithstanding a lamentable lack of 
former military training, editors, college professors, secre- 
taries of learned societies, former national tennis champions, 
managers of large business enterprises, distinguished en- 
gineers, and former police commissioners, all had something 
of value in their make-up, as attested by their past history, 
which would justify the Air Service in giving them commis- 
sions and securing their services. He knew they would make 
mistakes. His year and a half on the Western Front had 
taught him, however, what, unfortunately, many of the older 
staff officers found it difficult to learn before the Armistice 
was signed, that this war, unlike any which had preceded 
it, could use to the fullest extent men who had succeeded in 
the civilian world's occupations, even though they knew noth- 
ing of Army Regulations, or of infantry drill. He did not ex- 
pect them to develop into active commanders on the West- 
ern Front. He repeatedly said that in the course of a few 
months all the regular officers of the permanent establish- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 29 

ment would be needed on the firing line in France. But he 
did expect that the important positions in the War Depart- 
ment at home would be filled by near-civilians, and to give 
them the rank necessary for the places they were to fill did 
not worry him in the least, even though they had never 
served an eight years' apprenticeship as Second Lieutenants 
in the Line, and could not do " Squads right." 

Furthermore, General Squier saw clearly the tremendous 
possibilities of the Air Service. His prophetic vision, rising 
above the practical difficulties and annoying details con- 
nected with such mushroom growth, soared away into space 
like a veritable comet. Every time I had the opportunity of 
a long conversation with my Chief, I came away filled with 
a new inspiration and a clearer idea of the gigantic task 
that lay ahead of us. Even in little things he saw more dis- 
tinctly than any of us the requirements of our coming ex- 
pansion. At a time when it seemed to me that two or three 
office assistants and half a dozen stenographers would be 
all that I should need, he waved the idea aside with the 
remark, "You must get ready to have at least a dozen of- 
ficers and fifty clerks." And his vision was correct. It needed 
just about that many to handle the correspondence and the 
details of running the Schools of Military Aeronautics after 
they finally got going under full steam. 

I think General Squier expected more of us than we could 
possibly perform. He had seen what miracles were being 
done in England and France, and he had the greatest op- 
timism regarding American youth. Our Chief followed the 



30 AN EXPLORER 

principle of giving his subordinates the widest possible 
authority and permitting them to make decisions of the 
greatest importance. Seldom did he deny our requests. Our 
opportunity was tremendous and our responsibilities in- 
creased from day to day, but we always felt that we had Gen- 
eral Squier behind us. His optimism was contagious, and 
his belief in the great future of the American pilot spurred 
us on to work at high speed early and late. Holidays were 
welcome because they meant a freedom from callers and the 
opportunity to accomplish more constructive work than on 
ordinary week-days. 

The universities cooperated to the utmost of their ability, 
and showed unusual patience with the frequent changes of 
plan and curriculum that were necessitated by military ex- 
igency. Just as we would get comfortably settled in one course 
of study, word would come by cable from General Pershing, 
urging that more stress be laid on something else. The truth 
was, that the General Staff knew practically nothing about 
Military Aeronautics. Neither then, nor for many months 
afterwards, was there a single General Staff officer in Wash- 
ington who had attended a flying school, or who understood 
through practical experience the needs of a School of Mil- 
itary Aeronautics. We had to work out our own salvation — 
and keep going at the same time. Fortunately we had the 
constant aid and assistance, during these difficult first six 
months, of Colonel L. W. B. Rees, of the Royal Flying Corps, 
who had been decorated for his extraordinary courage in 
attacking single-handed ten German planes. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 31 

Colonel Rees had been used in England as an instructor, 
so his advice was particularly valuable. We learned to turn 
to him on all doubtful questions. That we did not make 
more mistakes was due chiefly to his long experience and 
good judgment. On my first tour of inspection of the cadets 
in the ground schools I had the good fortune to be accom- 
panied by Colonel Rees, and to witness the enthusiasm which 
his presence aroused among the cadets and the eagerness 
with which the members of the various faculties plied him 
with questions both before and after his lecture. Merely to 
get a glimpse of him as he limped across the campus and to 
realize what he had done was enough to increase appreci- 
ably the zeal of the cadets. 

He was in charge of a squadron at the Front just before 
the Somme offensive. Annoyed, as he whimsically relates, 
by the continual ringing of the telephone and the repeated 
asking of unnecessary questions by junior officers at Head- 
quarters, he decided to take a patrol himself. At that time 
it appears to have been the custom for single machines to 
make patrols. Later, patrols were taken by flights or entire 
squadrons. While on his solitary patrol he saw a squadron 
often German machines headed for France. As I remember 
the story, they were two-seaters, and probably constituted a 
day-bombing squadron. With almost unparalleled daring, 
he attacked the squadron, broke it up, sent down at least 
three, if not four, of the enemy aircraft in flames, and had the 
satisfaction of seeing the others hurry homeward in a de- 
moralized state. During the latter part of the engagement, 



32 AN EXPLORER 

he was suffering from the effects of a machine gun bullet, 
which entered his thigh and lodged near his right knee. 
This did not prevent him, however, from completing his 
victory by demolishing his last opponent and flying safely 
home to his own airdrome. He spent the next six months 
in the hospital, but eventually had the satisfaction of having 
the "V. C." pinned on his coat by the King himself. 

It was only with the very greatest difficulty that one could 
get Colonel Rees to speak of his great fight, even in pri- 
vate. His lectures were confined to a discussion of recent 
developments in aerial tactics and amusing stories of mis- 
takes that had been made by British pilots, due in some 
cases to inability to read maps, and in others to disobedi- 
ence of specific instructions. His readiness to help us on the 
minutest details was particularly appreciated by Lieutenant 
John C. Farrar, whose duty it was to collect for the use of the 
schools all the latest information regarding military aero- 
nautics. Lieutenant Farrar's keen enthusiasm for his work 
enabled him to unearth much that was of the greatest value 
both in Washington and Toronto, and later in France. We 
continually received the very latest confidential information 
prepared by the Royal Flying Corps. Its use in the courses 
at the ground schools was of great psychological value. It 
raised the morale of the cadets and made them take pride 
and interest in the course of instruction. Unfortunately, it 
could not help them to get to the Front any sooner. 



An Instructional Poster, typical of mc r0 







umCL» TO t«ACTO»» 



ceived from the Royal Flying Corps 




CHAPTER IV 

ORGANIZING THE SCHOOLS OF MILITARY 
AERONAUTICS 

THE United States Schools of Military Aeronautics 
were organized on a basis which permitted the Com- 
mandant, a regular officer of the permanent establishment 
and responsible directly to the Chief Signal Officer of the 
Army, to have complete control over the whole institution. 
As assistants to the Commandant there were an adjutant, a 
supply officer, and an officer in charge of military instruc- 
tion.The Commandant's right-hand man, however, on whom 
more than on any other one person depended the success of 
the school, was the civilian President of the Academic Board, 
to whom the faculty were directly responsible, and who 
appeared to the students as a kind of Dean. 

The commandants were drawn from the ranks of the 
junior officers in the Signal Corps. The newness of army 
aviation, and the unwillingness of older officers to take the 
risks associated with aviation training, had one unfortunate 
effect. The handful of regular army officers who had had prac- 
tical experience in military aeronautics was for the most part 
composed of recent graduates of West Point, very young 
men, who had failed to secure that six or eight years' experi- 
ence in handling men which was the ordinary lot of lieuten- 
ants in the infantry before being called upon to assume posi- 
tions of responsibility. Most of them had had six months 
with troops, but neither their experience at West Point nor 



34 AN EXPLORER 

their training at San Diego had made them super-men. Due 
to the rapid expansion of the regular army at the beginning 
of the war, these second lieutenants almost immediately be- 
came captains, or rather majors, for the operation of the law 
regarding Junior Military Aviators gave them additional 
rank. 

The fact that an officer was a major in the regular army 
and a graduate of West Point and San Diego made him 
liable to have great responsibilities thrust upon him, which 
few men of twenty-five (and most of our new J. M. A. Ma- 
jors were not over twenty-five years of age) had either the 
experience or the judgment to assume successfully. Conse- 
quently, it was not surprising that some of them encountered 
difficulties in their new work, and that the Inspector-General 
of the Army very severely criticised the manner in which 
some of the ground schools, and also some of the flying 
schools, were conducted. 

The ground schools had an easier time than the flying 
schools because the work was, after all, not so very different 
from the ordinary work of the long-established universities 
where they were located. Furthermore, they were under the 
sympathetic supervision of college presidents and consci- 
entious deans, whose long experience with college students 
and university faculties enabled them to keep the new schools 
running smoothly, even when the young majors in charge 
were dismayed at the extent and variety of their new re- 
sponsibilities. At the flying fields most of the professional 
instructors at that time were civilian flyers, whose training 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 35 

was for the most part not of the kind to lead to results that 
would please an Inspector-General. 

Owing to the shortage of flying field officers, it became 
necessary to replace the Junior Military Aviator Majors in 
many cases with older officers, whose experience in the regu- 
lar army enabled them to put the ground schools on a sounder 
basis. They were carefully selected with particular reference 
to their having had previous experience in instructional 
work. Their arrival was welcomed by the Presidents of the 
Academic Boards. The more mature years of the new com- 
mandants, their experience in dealing with civilians and sol- 
diers, and longer yearsof service in various parts of the army 
enabled them to overcome the drawbacks that arose at first 
from their lack of knowledge of aeronautics. 

One of the things which had to be worked out was the 
proper division of authority between the Commandant and 
the President of the Academic Board. After several months 
of experiment, the following system was adopted : The Com- 
mandant had general supervision over the entire school, and 
inparticular was thecommandingofficerof the troopson duty 
at that school. It was his duty to make frequent inspection of 
the tuition furnished by the university in accordance with the 
terms of its contract with the War Department. It was also 
his duty to report to the President of the Academic Board 
any discrepancies in instruction or the work of the instruc- 
tors. The President of the Academic Board was expected 
to discharge such instructors as in the opinion of the Com- 
mandant were not competent. 






36 AN EXPLORER 

The President of the Academic Board was in charge of 
all technical instructors, and instructions to them were is- 
sued by him rather than by the Commandant, but the Com- 
mandant was in direct charge of all students, since they 
were enlisted men, and orders to them were issued by him 
or by officers authorized by him. It was found to be imprac- 
ticable for the President of the Academic Board to have direct 
connection with the military side of the school. At the same 
time, there was a strong desire on the part of many of the stu- 
dents to "take their troubles to the Dean" rather than to the 
C. O. The rule was established that students should obtain 
permission from the officer in charge of their barracks be- 
fore conferring with the President of the Academic Board. 
In this way, the general practice in the service of reaching 
higher authority through proper military channels was em- 
phasized. One of the most difficult things for the average 
officer and man in our great new army to learn was that the 
rule concerning "military channels" was not designed to pre- 
vent him from reaching the highest authority, but was only 
intended to facilitate his doing so. 

The Commandant was urged to establish cordial relations 
with the students and to make himself easy of access. He was 
held responsible for the character of the instruction, both 
military and technical. While it was necessary that the Presi- 
dent of the Academic Board and the officer in charge of the 
Department of Military Studies should be independent of 
one another, it was equally important for the Commandant 
to coordinate and unite the efforts of these separate branches. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 37 

Under our contract with the universities, they furnished 
all equipment except Government publications, quarter- 
master supplies, and special aeronautical equipment, such 
as motors, airplanes, and spare parts. Machine guns, am- 
munition, and confidential material were also furnished by 
the War Department. The universities furnished the neces- 
sary instructors and other facilities needed for the proper 
operation of the school. In return, the Government agreed 
to pay a specified tuition fee for each man receiving in- 
struction ($10 per week for the first four weeks and $5 
per week thereafter), to furnish equipment of a special 
nature not procurable by the university, the curriculum of 
instruction to be followed, and such special information of 
instructional character as could be secured by the War 
Department from time to time. At first cadets received 
$33 per month ; later, $100 per month, plus allowances for 
rations. July 1, 1918, the pay of cadets was again reduced 
to $33, a procedure that did not raise the morale of a volun- 
teer corps where actual danger to life and limb in the flying 
schools was very great. 

The course of study consisted of eight weeks, later in- 
creased to twelve. The Junior Wing of three weeks was 
given over to intensive military training, instruction in mili- 
tary topics, and practical work on the machine gun and the 
radio buzzer. The Senior Wing consisted of five weeks of 
lectures and laboratory instruction, and included signalling 
with buzzer, lamp, and panelled shutter, and a few lectures 
on the care of the radio apparatus ; care of machine guns, 



38 AN EXPLORER 

and practice in clearing jams ; lectures on bombs, theory of 
flight, cross-country flying, meteorology, and night flying ; 
explanation of instruments and compasses ; practical work 
in map reading ; lectures on types of airplanes ; classroom 
work in aerodynamics ; practical work in rigging and re- 
pairing ; lectures on the principles of internal combustion 
motors and on the care of motors and tools ; practical work 
with various types of engines ; a little practice in trouble 
shooting ; lectures on the theory of aerial observation, with 
special reference to observing artillery fire ; practical work 
with the buzzer on a miniature artillery range ; and a few 
lectures on liaison with infantry, and the latest tactics of 
fighting in the air. 

In order to standardize the instruction in the British 
Schools of Military Aeronautics, the Royal Flying Corps 
had found it necessary to have all examinations set and 
read by a central office. This scheme was practical in Eng- 
land because the schools at Oxford and Reading were so 
near to London. It was entirely impractical in America, on 
account of the great distances separating our schools from 
Washington. So we met the necessity of keeping the schools 
at uniform grade by sending out frequent inspectors and by 
having all examination papers sent to Washington after they 
had been read and marked. Questions were set by the teach- 
ers who taught the courses. The marks which they gave 
were accepted by us as final. Our ability to hold "post mor- 
tems" on their work, however, enabled us to check up on in- 
structors who showed lack of imagination in inventing new 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 39 

questions or whose fatigue had interfered with their using 
good judgment in grading the papers. 

We secured the services of trained college readers like 
Captain S. Merrill Clement and Lieutenant Stanley T. 
Williams of Yale and Captain Cobb of Amherst and Lieu- 
tenant Clarence G. Andrews of Ohio State University to ex- 
amine the examination papers. While it was not necessary 
for them to read every one of the thousands of papers that 
were sent in, they were able to make cross-sections through 
the mass. When weak spots were discovered, these could then 
be further investigated. For instance, one week all the papers 
in the "Theory of Flight" examinations in all eight schools 
were read and the type of instruction in this subject as given 
in each school was thereby brought out. If it proved on in- 
vestigation that the papers from one of the eight schools 
were noticeably much better than the others, investigation 
of all the papers in that subject from that school was made, 
and the result sometimes showed that the excellence of 
these papers was due not to the excellence of instruction, 
but to the fact that the majority of the questions had been 
used repeatedly in recent examinations, so that it had been 
very easy for the careful student to prepare beforehand to 
meet just those questions. On the other hand, if one of the 
sets of papers was distinctly inferior, the attention of the Pres- 
ident of the Academic Board of that school was invited to 
the specific details wherein this particular instructor was 
not maintaining the desired standard. 

We kept a very careful record of the percentages of 



40 AN EXPLORER 

failures at each school, and whenever this made a marked 
departure from the general average, our examining officers 
would read all the papers from that school on all subjects 
for the past month. A full report of this investigation was 
then forwarded to the school. It was a new experience for 
most of our instructors to be checked up in this manner. 
Some of the schools liked it and immediately took advan- 
tage of the reports to improve and strengthen their meth- 
ods of instruction. Others resented it as being an unwar- 
rantable attack on that kind of academic freedom which does 
not like to be criticised or too closely inspected. 

It has always seemed to me that there was no more reason 
for a college instructor to feel hurt at frequent inspection of 
his work on the part of his superiors than the captain of a 
military organization at the weekly inspection carried on by 
his superior officer. I know there is a tradition in many col- 
leges that the classroom or lecture-room of a Professor is sa- 
cred to him and his class. During some fifteen years of col- 
lege teaching at four American universities, I do not remem- 
ber ever to have had the president of a university, the dean 
of a college, the head of my department, or a member of the 
corporation or board of trustees, enter my lecture-room or 
sit through a class exercise. As in the case of the great ma- 
jority of instructors, my work, instead of being carefully in- 
spected at regular intervals as it was in the army by represen- 
tatives of the Inspector-General's Office, was judged partly 
by the character of my published books and articles, partly 
by the high marks or number of failures given in my classes 




Nieaport 28, Monosoupape motor 




Nieuport 27, 120 H.P. Le Rhone motor 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 41 

in the course of a year, and partly by such undergraduate 
gossip as came to the ears of my superiors. In the army, 
an officer is never judged on barrack-room gossip. 

Frequent inspections were made by various officers from 
our own office in Washington. In this way the schools were 
kept in touch with one another and with the latest devel- 
opments in the air programme, difficulties which could not 
easily be put in writing were informally discussed, and it is 
believed that much good was accomplished. The following 
extracts from the report of one of our inspectors concerning 
methods of teaching at the Cornell school may prove of in- 
terest, particularly since he had had many years of experi- 
ence as a college professor. 

The theories of the gas engine, of carburetion, of ignition, etc., 
are given in lectures. After each period a man is given a chance to 
see and work on the subject of that lecture in the laboratory and to 
settle any question that may be troubling him. The laboratory classes 
are conducted on less military lines than others, giving men a chance 
to gather around the engines, ask questions of the instructors, and 
figure things out for themselves. The head instructor is in the labo- 
ratory constantly, going from group to group, explaining, watch- 
ing, and criticizing. I have never seen in any laboratory so much 
interest in work and cooperation between instructor and student. 
The attitude of the men is one of careful interest, which cannot help 
but follow them on to hangars both in this country and abroad. 
The engines are left at a certain point of assemblage at the end of 
each period. Every squad finds one engine in exactly the same con- 
dition when it comes again. A log book is kept of both men and 
engines and checked off so that every man will get exactly the same 
amount of work and the engines will be kept at the proper stages. 
Laboratory work at present is observation and explanation of 



42 AN EXPLORER 

the engines with some work on them, and one three-hour period 
devoted to the sketching of parts. Small clear sketches of various 
parts have been prepared and mounted on wood. These are given 
to the students to copy. Instructors are present during the entire 
period for consultation, and when a man has finished his sketches 
he must submit them for approval with his own explanation of the 
part drawn. This serves a double purpose — -it gives an understand- 
ing of the part and furnishes the student with a good drawing for 
his notebook. Fourteen lectures are given in all, the last one being 
a lantern-slide lecture of various engines and their parts. The head 
instructor in this department has been much interested in the devel- 
opment of what he calls an entirely new method of teaching. When 
he first started he says that he had no idea that men could be 
taught so much in eight weeks. His lectures are very carefully pre- 
pared and mapped out, with a quiz each week. He and his assist- 
ants have been very progressive in the preparation of large colored 
charts, and they have also made two wooden models showing skill- 
fully the action of a rotary motor and the principle of the four- 
cycle engine. 

Whenever helpful accounts of methods were received, or 
when significant paragraphs came in the weekly reports 
from the Commandant of any school, they were immedi- 
ately sent out to all the schools as suggestions. Instructors 
were encouraged to visit flying schools and other ground 
schools on their short vacations. Sometimes this led to their 
coming back with increased pride and satisfaction with their 
own institution, while at other times new methods of teach- 
ing proved worthy of adoption and caused changes at home. 
The cadets all felt that too much stress was laid on mil- 
itary discipline, but the following cablegram from General 
Pershing was responsible for the rigorous manner in which 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 43 

military discipline was enforced at the ground schools. It 
read as follows : 

I cannot too strongly impress upon the War Department the absolute 
necessity of rigid insistence that all men be thoroughly grounded in 
the school of the soldier. Salutes should be rendered by both officers 
and men in most military manner with especial emphasis on right 
position of soldiers in saluting and when at attention. A prompt mil- 
itary salute is often misunderstood by our people but it simply em- 
phasizes an aggressive attitude of mind and body that marks the true 
soldier. The loyalty, readiness, and alertness indicated by strictest ad- 
herence to this principle will immensely increase the pride and fight- 
ing spirit of our troops. The slovenly, unmilitary, careless habits 
that have grown up in peace times in our army are seriously detri- 
mental to the aggressive attitude that must prevail from highest to 
lowest in our forces. Strict methods used at West Point, in training 
new cadets in these elementary principles, have given the Academy 
its superior excellence. These methods should be applied rigorously 
and completely in the forces we are now organizing. 

Pershing 

This was sent us, by order of the Secretary of War, for our 
"information and careful guidance," and we made every 
effort to carry out General Pershing's request. 

It was conceded by British officers who visited our schools 
in the summer and fall of 1917 that some of them were 
quite as good as the similar schools of the Royal Flying 
Corps. Perhaps they were trying to flatter us, but remem- 
bering that British officers have very poor reputations as 
flatterers, we felt greatly encouraged. The school which par- 
ticularly aroused the praise and admiration of our visitors 
was that maintained under the auspices of the University 



44 AN EXPLORER 

of Texas at Austin. The credit for this was due in part to 
Major Ralph E. Cousins, J. M. A., who organized the school 
and was its efficient Commandant for the first five months 
of its existence. His success was due largely to his faith in 
the academic members of the faculty, and in particular in the 
President of the Academic Board, Professor J. M. Bryant. 

Professor Bryant had been one of the delegates to Toronto, 
and had shown great enthusiasm for the courses there and 
the possibility of adapting them to the needs of American 
students. His weekly reports forwarded to Washington by 
the Commandant showed a remarkable power of grasping 
new problems as they arose and dealing with them in a spirit 
of most cordial cooperation with the army. It was chiefly 
owing to his skill as an administrator, and his remarkable 
devotion to securing the best possible results with the stu- 
dents that were sent him, that this school achieved such suc- 
cess in securing the highest praise not only from the British 
officers who inspected it, but also from General Squier and 
his subordinates. General Squier said the cadets here re- 
minded him more of West Pointers than any he had ever in- 
spected. The success of this school was due also to President 
Robert E. Vinson of the University of Texas, whose whole- 
hearted patriotism made him grant immediately every re- 
quest which we made of him at a time when local difficul- 
ties and the animosity of the Governor of Texas might easily 
have justified him in hesitating. 

In a similar manner, Professor B. M. Woods, President 
of the Academic Board in the school at the University of 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 45 

California, by his enthusiastic and whole-hearted coopera- 
tion built up a plant that won General Squier's warmest 
praise. Excellent work was done at Berkeley. The Regents 
of the University of California deserve to be particularly re- 
membered for their prompt action. At a time when all parts 
of the country were willing to do their utmost to cooperate 
in winning the war, no Board of Trustees showed greater 
speed in voting credits and erecting temporary structures to 
meet the needs of a new school. 

The Trustees of Princeton University gave us the use of 
their newest dormitories, and her officials determined to do 
everything in their power to make their school the best of 
the eight. President Hibben's long devotion to the cause of 
Preparedness had led us to expect that Princeton would not 
be behindhand in offering special facilities for carrying on 
the work of her ground school, and we were not disappointed. 
In November this school was visited by the late Colonel 
Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote me that he was "immensely 
pleased" with it and with the character of the men in it. 

Cornell was fortunate in being able to devote her mag- 
nificent new armory entirely to our needs. President Schur- 
man strained every nerve to meet our requirements and to 
make the school successful. Its location near the Thomas- 
Morse airplane factory gave the Cornell students an oppor- 
tunity of coming into closer touch with the progress of 
American flying than the students at the other schools. Cor- 
nell's excellent course in motors has already been described. 

The success attained by the school at the University of 



46 AN EXPLORER 

Illinois was due chiefly to the untiring efforts of Dean David 
Kinley, and the determination of his faculty to put their 
school first in point of advanced methods of teaching. 
Under the zealous supervision of President Thompson and 
later of Professor Blake, the school at Ohio State University 
was also fortunate in securing special buildings for its use. 
It was most encouraging during moments of depression 
at Washington to receive visits from earnest patriots like 
President Thompson and President Hibben, and to realize 
the extent to which they were willing to go to enable the air 
programme to succeed. 

The Georgia Institute of Technology at Atlanta and the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge also 
had engineering laboratories well adapted to the needs of the 
new schools. At Atlanta two student dormitories were as- 
signed to our use, while at Cambridge barracks were estab- 
lished in available quarters of that splendid new group of 
buildings. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was 
the only one of the eight schools that had for several years 
past been developing special courses in aerodynamics. Con- 
sequently, it was particularly well situated for training Aero- 
nautical Engineers, when the need arose for having a special 
school for that purpose. TheGeorgia School developed a good 
course in Military Studies under Captain Blake — formerly 
Sergeant on duty at Miami — and was selected to train 
Aviation Supply Officers. Adjutants were trained at Ohio 
State University. Thus three of the ground schools came 
to be used largely for the training of non-flying officers. 




Morane-Saulnier Monoplane, type 30, Monosoupape motor 




Spad, 225 H.P. Hi spa no- Suiza motor 



CHAPTER V 

SELECTING THE FITTEST 

CANDIDATES for commissions in the Air Service 
were secured from civil life, Reserve Officers Training 
Corps, colleges, and the Regular Army. The objects of the 
schools of military aeronautics were: first, to teach the can- 
didates their military duties and to develop in them soldierly 
qualities and prompt obedience; second, to give a certain 
limited amount of training in such things as could properly 
be taught at a ground school, namely, aerodynamics, gun- 
nery, radio, internal combustion motors, aerial tactics, and 
cooperation with other arms of the service; and third, to 
weed out those who were mentally, morally, or physically 
unfitted to become flying officers. 

In view of the large number of applicants, the tens of 
thousands of young men who were anxious to fly, the enor- 
mous expense of flying instruction (our allies estimated that 
it was costing them about $25,000 for every military avia- 
tor sent to the Front), the shortage of training equipment, 
the scarcity of flying schools (our flying schools were not all 
completed even by the time the Armistice was signed), and 
the necessity of getting the best men trained as rapidly 
as possible, it was felt that the most important function 
of the ground school was the elimination of those who did 
not give immediate promise of becoming good flying offi- 
cers. About twenty-five per cent of those who passed the 
physical examining board and the preliminary "once over" 



48 AN EXPLORER 

given by the aviation examiner, were dropped from the 
ground schools and given an opportunity to enlist in some 
other branch of the service, or to join an air squadron as 
enlisted men and take their chance of later being recom- 
mended by squadron commanders as worthy of being given 
a second opportunity to train as candidates for commission. 

The plan was adopted, and during the six months of my 
occupancy of the directorship of the Schools of Military Aero- 
nautics rigidly adhered to, of permitting the commanding 
officers of the schools to discharge a man for cause, or to 
grant those students who failed in any subject the oppor- 
tunity of being placed on probation. One more failure, and 
the student was automatically dropped and his place filled 
by a new aspirant. This system undoubtedly worked hard- 
ship in many cases and deprived us of the services of many 
men who would have made excellent pilots. On the other 
hand, it justified itself in the results on the flying fields, 
where it was seldom necessary to interfere with the expen- 
sive flying training of a pilot because of his stupidity or the 
inferiority of his mental or moral calibre. 

While it seemed doubtful to some military aviators at 
first whether the professional, but non-flying, instructors of a 
university would be able to pass the right kind of pilot per- 
sonnel, the results soon convinced them that the system was 
right. Two of the first cadets to go from the School of Military 
Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
disappointed the officers at the Mineola Flying School. One 
of them was rapidly eliminated and the other had been or- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 49 

dered before the board for elimination, when word was re- 
ceived that both of these students had in reality failed to grad- 
uate, but due to the ramifications of red tape had not received 
their discharge papers before being sent to Mineola. This 
circumstance naturally increased the confidence of the flying 
officers in the work of the ground school instructors. 

While at that time there was no suitable physical means 
of determining whether a man lacked the proper sense of bal- 
ance to become an acrobatic flyer, the severe requirements 
of the ground schools, the necessity for learning a large num- 
ber of new things in a very short time, the need of working 
under high pressure for several weeks without breaking 
down, and the skill, enthusiasm, and good judgment dis- 
played by the self-sacrificing instructors, who were willing 
to give up the opportunity for more brilliant service abroad, 
combined to produce a splendid body of graduates. 

There were undoubtedly a number of cases where we lost 
some excellent personnel owing to mistakes in judgment on 
the part of officers charged with determining the standards 
and setting the tests. It was General Squier's feeling, however, 
that where so many thousands of the best youth of America 
were striving to get into what we believed, and what they 
believed, to be the most attractive branch of the service, we 
were justified in declining to continue as candidates any 
about whom there should arise the slightest doubt. To the 
individuals concerned, the adverse decisions seemed unac- 
countably severe and often unfair. From an intimate know- 
ledge of how these decisions were reached during the first 



50 AN EXPLORER 

ten months of our participation in the war, I can say without 
fear of contradiction that our sole motive in making these 
decisions was the desire to see the American Air Service 
contain only the most efficient, mentally alert, physically 
perfect, and soldierly body of young men to be found in the 
American Army. Over and over again senators, represen- 
tatives, distinguished citizens, and depressed parents came 
to beg special consideration for sons, nephews, cousins, 
friends, and acquaintances. Their calls used up a lot of time, 
but their importunity deserved the most sympathetic treat- 
ment. Due to the remarkable efficiency of Miss F. Pol, who 
was in charge of our files, we were able to answer questions 
quickly and locate the cause of the trouble, even though 
this seldom completely satisfied our callers. 

The average American citizen took the attitude that any 
young fellow who was willing to enter the hazardous game 
of aviation was thereby exhibiting such tremendous patri- 
otism and extraordinary courage that he ought to be lightly 
wafted on his way into the air, notwithstanding any men- 
tal deficiency which the ground school examinations had 
disclosed. One congressman even wanted imperfect eye- 
sight to be waived ! 

The fact that there were at least 50,000 young Ameri- 
cans all eager to become pilots, and that the War Depart- 
ment could not afford to give " the most expensive education 
in the world" to any except those who were best qualified to 
use it, did not appeal to the caller who had been so deeply 
impressed by the willingness of the one young man in whom 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 51 

he was interested to take the "fearful risks" of military 
aviation. Some callers were more insistent than others. In 
the ten months that I was on duty in Washington, I do not 
remember receiving a single communication from a New 
England senator asking for special consideration for one of 
his constituents, although the rate of failure was very high 
in the School of Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, and the New England Examining Boards 
declined to pass more than half of their applicants. In strik- 
ing contrast was the extraordinary amount of correspond- 
ence that poured in over the signatures of some of the south- 
ern senators. I suppose some one will be able to offer a con- 
vincing reason for this extraordinary disparity. 

We tried to see that each one got a square deal, but we 
insistently refused to make exceptions and grant favors even 
to senators who happened to be members of the Military 
Affairs Committee, or owners of powerful newspapers who 
feltthat because they had supported the Administration they 
deserved special consideration. Some of their young friends 
went to Canada. It was quite obvious that, by placing at- 
tractive flying schools so near our large centres of population, 
the Royal Flying Corps had reasonable expectations of secur- 
ing many very capable volunteers from the United States 
who could quietly travel across the line and pass themselves 
off as Canadians if they so chose. As a matter of fact, a large 
number did so elect, and some of the most brilliant pilots of 
that splendid corps were young Americans who either could 
not wait for our slow grinding machinery to reach them or 



52 AN EXPLORER 

else had not been able to measure up to the physical or men- 
tal requirements which we were able to maintain by reason 
of the enormous supplyof first class material that was offered 
to us. The British had been fighting for so long, and both they 
and the Canadians had been so lavish of their finest youth, 
that it was obvious they were unable, in 1917, to maintain 
as high a mental or physical standard as we were. 

On July 14, 1917, when the first class of 132 graduated 
from the ground schools, 1570 cadets had been accepted 
for training, and 1370 had been sent to the ground schools. 
Four months later, when I left the Schools Division to take 
up my new duties in the Personnel Division, 6670 cadets 
had been sent to the ground schools, 3140 had been gradu- 
ated, and of these, more than 500 had already been grad- 
uated from American flying schools as Reserve Military 
Aviators. 

A great many of those who successfully passed the ground 
schools and became pilots, in looking back on their courses, 
were grateful for the excellent teaching they had received 
in the fundamentals of machine gun care and operation, 
motor construction, and radio sending and receiving. On 
the other hand, many became pursuit pilots in France and, 
therefore, had no occasion to send or receive radio, nor op- 
portunity to use the Lewis machine gun (which had been 
the only one available in the early days of the ground schools), 
and no occasion to use the Curtiss or Hall-Scott motor (again 
the only ones available for early instructional purposes). They 
felt that their eight weeks in the ground schools had been 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 53 

a total loss of time. No one can blame them for feeling so. 
Very few of them appreciated the fact that the elimina- 
tion of those not so mentally alert as themselves was greatly 
to their advantage and aided materially in speeding up 
the work at the flying schools. The first graduates were 
less inclined to feel any gratitude to the ground schools be- 
cause of what happened in France — but that is another 
story. 

From the date of establishment of these ground schools, 
May 21, 1917, up to their discontinuance, the following 
number of flying cadets were handled : 

Total number of cadets entered 22,689 

Total number graduated 17,540 

Total number discharged 5,149 

The distribution of cadets was as follows : 

Opened Closed Entered Dis- Orad- 

charged uated 

University of Cal., May 21, 1917 Feb. 1,1918 3,737 705 3,032 

Berkeley, Cal. 
Cornell University, May 21, 1917 Nov. 23,1918 3,645 833 2,812 

Ithaca, N. Y. 
Ga. Sch. of Tech., July 2,1917 May 11,1918 406 79 327 

Atlanta, Ga. 
University of III., May21,1917 Nov. 23, 1918 3,453- 809 2,644 

Urbana, 111. 
Mass. Inst, of Tech., May 21,1917 Sept. 7,1918 797' 175 622 

Cambridge, Mass. 
Ohio State Univ., May 21, 1917 Aug. 31, 1918 1,291 199 1,092 

Columbus, Ohio 
Princeton University, July 2,1917 Nov. 23, 1918 3,586 1,088 2,498 

Princeton, N. J. 
University of Texas, May 21, 1917 Feb. 1,1919 5,774-1,261 4,513 

Austin, Texas 



54 AN EXPLORER 

In addition to the above mentioned cadets, there were also 
entered and trained during this period the following : 





Entered 


Discharged 


Graduated 


Supply Officers 


963 


111 


852 


Engineer Officers 


964 


238 


726 


Adjutants 


887 


98 


789 



In the spring of 1918 an Aviation Concentration Camp 
was established at Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas, for prelimi- 
nary training of ground school candidates awaiting assign- 
ment to ground schools, and graduates of ground schools 
awaiting assignment to flying schools. 

The last curriculum under which the schools operated 
provided a course for bombers and observers, but owing 
to the signing of the Armistice, these courses were never 
actually put into effect. 

Such text-books as the following were used in connection 
with our courses : Sherrill's Military Map Reading, Audel's 
Gasoline Engines, Von Verkatz's New Methods of Machine 
Gun Fire, Barber's The Aeroplane Speaks, Loening's Mili- 
tary Aeroplanes, Grieve's Map Reading, Ellis & Carey's 
Plattsburg Manual, Rees' Fighting in the Air, Moss' Offi- 
cers^ Manual, Milham's Meteorology, Carlson's Notes on 
Radio Telegraphy, Dyke's Working Models of Engines and 
Magnetoes, Burl's Aero Engines, Keene's Aero Engines, Page's 
Aero Engines, Mathew's Aviation Pocket Book, Zahm's Aerial 
Navigation, Savage Arms Co. Machine Gun Catalog, to- 
gether with the following Government publications : Equip- 
ment for an Aero Squadron, Manual of Physical Training, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 55 

Infantry Drill Regulations, Army Regulations, Field Service 
Regulations, Manual of Courts Martial, Silhouettes of Air- 
planes, Small Arms Firirig Manual, Interior Guard Duty, 
Signal Corps Manual, Unit Equipment Manual. 

My right-hand man during the summer and fall was 
Major J. Robert Moulthrop. He was an invaluable assistant. 
He later took entire charge of the schools. He was in turn 
succeeded by Captain George A. Washington, whose legal 
training and long interest in militia activities made him par- 
ticularly well qualified for his duties. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PERSONNEL OFFICE IN WASHINGTON 

ON November 20, 1917, General Squier asked me to 
take charge of "Air Personnel." Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lippincott, who had been in charge, was promoted to a full 
Colonelcy, placed in command of the second regiment of 
Air Service Mechanics, and sent overseas. At that time the 
Personnel Section of the Air Division was occupying part of 
one floor in the old Southern Railway building at 119 D 
Street. Most of the clerks had but recently entered the War 
Department. Many of them were school teachers, who had 
never used a filing cabinet or acted in any clerical capacity 
whatsoever. Few had had any training in a business office. 
Although they all worked with goodwill and patriotic devo- 
tion, they greatly needed careful instruction and practical 
experience. 

The congestion and confusion were appalling. Desks were 
placed as closely together as they could possibly be jammed 
and still leave a narrow space whereby the occupant could 
come and go. Thus those that occupied interior desks were 
unable to move without asking two or three others to move 
also. No effort was made to keep out callers, and every one 
of the twenty-five or thirty officers then in charge of the one 
hundred and fifty clerks was subject to continual interrup- 
tion on the part of both candidates and officers in the Air 
Service, as well as their friends and congressmen. Fifty 
filing clerks, most of them entirely without training, were 
huddled together at long tables where their elbows touched, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 57 

and where the conditions under which they labored were 
such as to produce the greatest possible confusion in the 
files. It usually took over an hour to find a desired paper, 
and frequently two or three hours would be spent in a vain 
search for a valuable document. Too often papers could not 
be found at all, as many unfortunate candidates will re- 
member only too well. 

Our incoming mail consisted of about three thousand 
pieces daily, or as many as in that of the Adjutant-General 
of the Army at the beginning of the war. We were much 
worse off than he was, however, for the officers on his staff 
were men of long experience in the regular army dealing 
with familiar problems on a well-established basis, while 
with one or two exceptions the officers then on duty in Air 
Personnel were near-civilians with very slight knowledge 
of army paper work. They were dealing with entirely new 
problems and constantly changing regulations. Furthermore, 
many of the clerks in the Adjutant-General's office had been 
in the War Department for years and were thoroughly fa- 
miliar with the ramifications of red tape. Our clerks, on 
the other hand, were nearly all entirely new to War Depart- 
ment requirements. 

There was no adequate system of distributing the mail. 
The girls at the distribution desk did the best they knew 
how, and when in doubt put the letters into the basket of 
Captain Dunham, whose remarkable memory enabled him 
to carry on his desk an enormous amount of detail. Distri- 
bution baskets were labelled with the names of officers in- 



58 AN EXPLORER 

stead of with the titles of subdivisions of the office. In other 
words, the division was suffering from growing pains. 

Fortunately, there was in the division an officer who had 
had experience in reorganizing partly defunct factories — 
a graduate of the Harvard School of Business Adminis- 
tration, Captain Willard P. Fuller. He understood thor- 
oughly the means for securing a scientific distribution of the 
incoming mail. He arranged a chart which showed the dis- 
tributors exactly to which section any kind of inquiries 
should be sent. In each one of the sub-sections separate 
distributing desks were established, so that all mail could 
promptly reach its proper destination. It seems like a simple 
thing now, but as a matter of fact there had been little time 
to develop a proper organization for the office during the 
period of its phenomenally rapid growth. 

When I first saw the division, in May, 1917, its work 
was being performed by one officer and half a dozen clerks. 
It seems incredible that Captain Lippincott should have 
been able to receive callers as well as run the office and 
dictate letters. He worked nights and Sundays. The rapid 
growth of the office and the tremendous increase in the 
amount of mail soon snowed him under. Greatly handi- 
capped by lack of space and lack of trained assistants, it 
soon became almost impossible to handle the volume of 
business that was coming in. To add to these difficulties, there 
were constantly increasing demands on the part of con- 
gressmen and other government officials that their friends 
receive special and speedy attention. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 59 

My first month at his old desk was like a nightmare. 
It will be remembered that it was in the middle of Decem- 
ber that the new draft law went into effect, so as to prevent 
any further voluntary enlistment of those within the draft 
age. As the date approached, our callers became more nu- 
merous, until they reached more than 500 per day. Had 
it not been for the yeoman's service rendered by Lieuten- 
ant Walter Tufts, we should have been completely over- 
whelmed. Applications for non-flying commissions rapidly 
increased. During the week ending December 6 there were 
only 80 ; during the week ending December 13 they rose to 
1500 ; and the following week there were almost as many. 

During the first week in December we received 2700 
applications from would-be pilots who had made up their 
minds to take their chances as aviators rather than as soldiers 
in the draft army. In the week ending December 19 we re- 
ceived 2900 applications for flying commissions, but the 
following week, after the day of voluntary enlistment was 
passed, applications, although still permissible, fell to 1100; 
and to 700 in the week after that. Many of these last appli- 
cations, however, came from soldiers already in uniform. 

The growth of the Air Service, during the four months 
in which I was familiar with the details of the Air Per- 
sonnel Division, went from a total of about 30,000 enlisted 
men on the 20th of November, 1917, to 126,000 on the 21st 
of March, 1918. About the first of December, General Squier 
had said to me that it looked as though the difficulties of 
securing enough planes and motors had been solved, but 



60 AN EXPLORER 

that we were not going to have enough personnel to take 
care of them. Consequently we made a strenuous drive dur- 
ing the first two weeks of December so as to attract into 
the enlisted ranks of the Air Service as many skilled me- 
chanics as possible before they should be caught in the draft 
and assigned to some branch of the service that might not 
appeal to them as strongly as ours. As a result of this drive, 
we gained about 50,000 recruits. Captain Clayton Dubosque 
was largely responsible for this. His training in publicity 
work was of great value. 

In the mean time I had made every possible effort to se- 
cure more space for our hard-working staff. This resulted 
in our being transferred to a large loft in the building occu- 
pied by the Union Garage. Here we had space enough, 
to be sure, but the fumes and poisonous gases that came up 
from the garage caused severe headaches and greatly re- 
duced the efficiency of the staff. Meantime, the other sec- 
tions of the x\ir Division had moved to the Barrister Building, 
which further increased the difficulty of operation. About 
this time, in order to enable quicker action to be taken, the 
Personnel Section of the Air Division was made a separate 
division under the title of Air Personnel Division, in the of- 
fice of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. 

Notwithstanding the fact that every time we moved we 
lost at least two days, due to confusion and the necessity 
of getting settled in new quarters, it was determined shortly 
before Christmas to move again, this time into the old 
post-office building on K Street near the railroad station. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 61 

This proved to be most satisfactory. Here we had three 
entire floors — plenty of room and light, comparative quiet, 
and freedom from the noises and odors of the garage. Offices 
were established on the ground floor for giving special at- 
tention to visitors. It was found necessary, also, to establish 
under the very able direction of Captain (later Lieutenant- 
Colonel) John B. Reynolds a branch to handle the con- 
stantly increasing correspondence and inquiries made by 
members of Congress and other government officials. It 
was believed, however, that the resulting freedom from 
interruption that was thus granted to the heads of all other 
branches in the office enabled our work to be carried on 
much more expeditiously and efficiently. Colonel W. E. Gil- 
more as Executive Officer of the Division was a tower of 
strength in meeting and solving difficult points. Colonel Harry 
Bull kept an eagle eye on the candidates and accomplished 
wonders in eliminating undesirables. 

A few more highly paid, thoroughly experienced clerks 
were obtained under special dispensation, and the work of 
training our clerical personnel for their particular tasks and 
seeing to it that misfits were avoided wherever possible was 
given special consideration. The files, which were increas- 
ing at an astounding rate, were still far from satisfactory. 
Accordingly, an expert and twelve assistants were put on 
a night shift with orders to make a thorough and compre- 
hensive examination of all the files. As a result, hundreds 
of errors that had occurred during the days of confusion 
and congestion were discovered and corrected. It became 



62 AN EXPLORER 

possible to reduce the number of filing clerks and at the 
same time secure greater rapidity of service, so that by the 
first of March one could secure the papers of any individual 
in less than two minutes. 

In order to reduce the causes of friction with the Ad- 
jutant-General's office and other divisions of the War De- 
partment, including the various branches of the Air Ser- 
vice itself, a number of officers were designated as Liaison 
Officers, whose duty it was to make daily visits to the va- 
rious officers with whom we had dealings, listen to their 
complaints, and work out methods of improving the service. 

A weekly meeting was held of the chiefs of all sections. 
Reports were presented and results were shown on graphic 
charts prepared by Captain Fuller and hung on the walls 
of my office. Competition between the different sections was 
keen. Due to the lack of familiarity with army regulations 
and also to the constant changes brought about by new de- 
cisions, it was found expedient to establish an Authorities 
Section, to which copies of all letters containing decisions 
and new policies were sent. Thanks to the skill and devo- 
tion of Captain Hamilton Hadley, it soon became possible for 
the officers and clerks of the division to submit here all doubt- 
ful points and learn the established rules and procedure. 

When I became Chief of the Air Personnel Division, 
about 7500 candidates for flying commissions had passed 
the aviation examining boards and been accepted for train- 
ing. Under the able direction of Major John B. Watson and 
Captain C. C. Little, we established aviation examining 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 63 

boards at most of the great concentration camps and in 
thirty-two of the principal cities of the country. They were 
able to examine about 2500 candidates a week. The work 
of the examining boards was found to be very uneven. For 
instance, the board in Omaha would be rejecting, say, twenty- 
five per cent of all applicants, while that in Boston would be 
rejecting sixty per cent. It was found necessary to give the 
Examining Boards Section of the office a sufficient staff to 
enable the boards to be inspected and their work constantly 
correlated and compared, so as to approach a uniform stand- 
ard as far as possible. 

The board which had the most pressing and difficult 
problems was the Washington board. Here Major William 
Larned, Major Robert Wren, and later Major William J. 
Malone toiled and strove with all possible tact and judg- 
ment to unravel knotty problems. 

During the next four months the number accepted for 
training increased to 19,500 ; a large proportion of these had 
been sent to the ground schools, and 2000 had been taught 
to fly and been recommended for commission. These figures 
will give a little idea of the amount of work that had to be 
transacted in our office, where the orders were issued and 
records filed. As a matter of fact, it kept 50 officers and 
250 clerks very busy six days in the week and quite a num- 
ber of them on Sundays as well. Undoubtedly many mistakes 
occurred because of the amount of work that had to be placed 
in inexperienced hands. Every effort was made to expedite 
routine. "Passing the buck "was eliminated as far as possible. 



64 AN EXPLORER 

Speaking of this ancient game in which a piece of work 
or any other disagreeable duty is passed from one person to 
another in such a manner " that the smallest possible por- 
tion of the work or duty is accomplished and the identity of 
the person whose duty it is to do it is hidden from the per- 
son interested in having it done," the following article which 
came to my desk in France from an anonymous source in 
the summer of 1918 may prove of interest to those who 
have suffered, and will certainly arouse sympathy among 
many who have endeavored to get something accomplished: 

"PASSING THE BUCK" 
The claim often advanced by American enthusiasts that the game 
originated in the United States is not founded on fact. The game is as 
old as history and as widespread as geography. 

Wherever and whenever it originated, its development and per- 
fection in the United States have made it to all intents and purposes 
an American game, as inseparably American as chewing-gum itself. 
Introduced into America in early Colonial times, the game won im- 
mediate and lasting popularity among all classes, but its greatest 
impetus came from its semi-official adoption in Government circles 
as the National Indoor Sport. Its growth has been as steady and as 
rapid as the increase in population, except in the District of Colum- 
bia where the population has n't been able to keep up. In no other 
country of the world is the game played by so many people, or with 
such great skill and daring. 

Army Regulations and the Quartermaster's Manual are the two 
principal rule books of the game. A careful study of them will give 
the beginner a fairly good understanding of this fascinating sport. 
Besides these, there are many other rules, some of which will be found 
on the backs of the numerous forms used in the game, but most of 
which have never been printed. New rules are being made every day 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 65 

to cope with the new duties and labors that come with war. The 
official umpires are the Auditor for the War Department and the 
Comptroller of the Treasury. They are seldom appealed to except 
to umpire big league games, but their services are available to all 
players, from the newest beginner to the most skilled. 

It is impossible to give in this short space anything like a com- 
plete description of the game, or even a comprehensive summary of 
the rules. There are, however, certain general principles and a few 
rules that must be observed in counting points, and which may profit- 
ably be mentioned here. 

First of all, the new employee should bear well in mind that 
rendering service to the public, or trying in any way to please it, is 
not a part of the game. New employees entering the service from 
civil life often bring with them a fund of enthusiasm of this nature 
that is difficult to control. This enthusiasm takes the form of an in- 
sane desire on their part to make themselves useful and agreeable to 
the general public with which they come into contact, and to their 
fellow employees. This is a thing most studiously to be avoided. Its 
harmful effects are threefold. It counts against the player himself in 
the game; it spoils the game for other more experienced players; and 
it stores up trouble for the new player against the time when constant 
floundering in the meshes of red tape will have choked from him the 
last gasp of whatever splendid enthusiasm he may once have had. 

When there are ten or more players in the game, and the buck is 
passed to each and by each, in turn, until it makes a complete circle, 
and then is thrown aside without any actual work having been ac- 
complished, a perfect score is said to have been made, and everybody 
gets a hundred. 

Although there are many notable cases of new players having 
been conspicuously successful from the start, the finished players are, 
for the most part, men who have been long in the service and grown 
up with the game. The present generation owes them a great deal. 
The skill of some of them is such that they count their perfect scores 
by dozens, and even by hundreds. It is said that the man who com- 



66 AN EXPLORER 

piled the Quartermaster's Manual was voted a life championship 
certificate, and then permanently disqualified from further compe- 
tition in amateur games on the ground that he had become profes- 
sional. It was feared that if he continued to compete in amateur 
games his phenomenal success might discourage other players from 
putting forth their best efforts. This would cause a lagging of inter- 
est that might bring about the death of the game and drag Govern- 
ment work down to the level of ordinary business procedure. 

Every one who could do so was glad to escape from the 
"meshes of red tape." At the beginning of the war our swords 
were sharp and we could cut red tape freely, but as time 
went on, the necessity for playing according to rule in- 
creased, and we had to make some ourselves ! 

Apart from the difficulties of organizing and operating an 
office which utilized the servicesof so many officers and clerks 
who had had no army experience, our greatest difficulty lay 
in the fact that the General Staff had failed to prepare an 
adequate programme or set down in advance suitable rules 
for our guidance, and adequate tables of organization. About 
the middle of February we received a memorandum from 
the Air Division stating that fifty thousand more enlisted 
mechanics would be required for air squadrons during the 
next six or seven months. A determined effort to secure these 
resulted in our exceeding the specific official authorizations 
made by the General Staff. It was apparently understood by 
the officers of the Air Division that the General Staff would 
increase these authorizations as fast as necessary, but I be- 
lieve it was ultimately found imperative to transfer a con- 
siderable number of our men to other branches of the service. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 67 

In order to get things done promptly, it was frequently 
necessary to go far beyond what had been authorized and 
approved. Oral indications of the desires of the Chief Signal 
Officer, and intelligent guesswork, had to be relied upon to 
a great extent. The work could not have been done had it 
not been for the splendid enthusiasm of officers like Lieu- 
tenantGeroid Robinson, Captain Julian Ripley, Major Fickel, 
Major Litchfield, and Major C. B. Cameron, who brought 
all the experience they had gained in their previous occu- 
pations as men of business or professional men, and with it 
a willingness to work early and late, Sundays and holidays, 
with the sole desire of getting everything possible done to 
promote the air programme. 

While most of the work was a steady grind of routine, 
there came through the mail occasional flashes of humor 
that were passed around to cheer up every one in the office. 
Here is a sample reproduced verbatim except that the names 
are changed : 



SA-VOY CAFE 

New York, 1917 
War Department, 

Washington, Dc. 
Gentlemen: — 

receive your letter some time ago and papers which to sign but 
as i were going to sign i dropped a bottle of ink on it, and so i am 
asking you to forward me another one also gentlman i wishes to ask 
you by reading the letter you state that i have to have three years of 
recognized university and a theoretical knowledge of or practical 
experience with internal combustion engines so i wishes to say that 



68 AN EXPLORER 

if any man that wanted to join the aviation section will have to learn 

so i only asked senator to recommend me to you so which he 

did and which i thank him for doing so. also if i can do any thing for 
this govment i will be glad to do so but if i can not get in there i 
wish you would be kind enough to please give me the best position 
so please give me a position before they go to conscrip before i would 
be conscriped i would go to the army so please do so at once. 

yours 

Sajed n. Loomid 

I am an american born syrion 

i am five feet and six inc. 

i weight at about one hundred & fourtyfive 
i have went high as the sixthgreade but have 
a verry good education also i have a verry good 
and smart mind and am verry healthy young man in 
every reform so what else a man must have. 

Here is another one that gave us courage and cheered us on 
our way : 

Richmond, Va. 

October 11, 1917 
Gentlemen : 

To who it may consern. 

I Sam Jones, -wishes to know what chances you will give me in the 
aviation corps. I wont something that will let me fly in France after 
6 moths in school none of This America stuff. My teeth are not in 
so bad condition that is my lower ones, But my uper ones are false 
will you Please give spacial Permition my health is fine everything 
except my teeth. I stand 5' 8" waight 143. Penn. Birth and nerve 
enuff To fight a Bull dog with both hands tied behind me nerves fine, 

eye sight splendid. 

I remane 

Your ever, 

S. J. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 69 

The enthusiasm to get into the Air Service was general 
throughout the country. Woe betide the unfortunate Avia- 
tion Examining Board which declined the application of a 
youth whose father or whose uncle was locally of political 
importance. Some senators, like my classmate, "Jim" Wads- 
worth, regularly declined to interfere with the routine deci- 
sions of examiners; others were continually calling, writ- 
ing, or telephoning in regard to the cases of "sons of our 
best families" who for some reason or other were being 
thwarted in their commendable desire to fly in France. 

Here is part of a letter that objected strenuously to the 
action of the Indianapolis Examining Board. It illustrates 
some of the difficulties in the correspondence that we had 
to carry on : 

I certainly regret that the Indianapolis Board gave an unfavor- 
able report upon my examination for I believe that I really am eligible 
to the above service, for several reasons, and I certainly do wish that 
you would permit me to be reexamined. 

At no time have I ever noticed any forces other than balanced ones 
at work upon my body or intuition in any activity. 

My fainting has always been due to a mental shock I receive when 
I allow my mind to ponder upon pain. 

Please do allow me another trial for I certainly do feel that I can 
make it. 

Occasionally proposals of another sort got into our mail- 
bag and had to be passed along to the technical experts. 



70 AN EXPLORER 

There was, for example, this plan for disguising our sub- 
marines and enabling their work of discovering enemy sub- 
marines to proceed more successfully : 

By using a hull, shaped exactly like a whale composed of inner 
steel lining, outside wood casing, and a rubber covering, with power 
furnished by a submarine that is fastened underneath, with jaws that 
open and close and which is an inlet for water that is later on forced 
out of the blow hole on the whales head, this being done with the aid 
of a force pump. 

The eyes are fitted with strong lenses, while the nostrils are made 
on the pattern of conical shutters, and which can dialate instantly to 
allow the sending of a torpedo. Then by using a storage battery and 
motor of good strength and with a gyroscopic rudder, a torpedo 
could be given a definite course; and be able to travel a far greater 
distance. 

As a rule, however, most of our callers were concerned 
with the disaster that had overtaken them or their friends 
in not being able to pass certain "unimportant" examina- 
tions. 

Captain Reynolds, who received many of our callers, 
had many trying experiences, but his tact and courtesy were 
unfailing. He saw many people at their worst. He was 
sometimes roundly abused by influential visitors who failed 
to have the rules altered or overlooked in their favor. But 
there were no complaints of unfair treatment or favoritism. 
Captain Victor Henderson and Lieutenant Avery Tomp- 
kins also were of invaluable assistance in smoothing out 
difficulties. 



ZZ 



7Q 
m 
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CHAPTER VII 

OVERSEAS 

ON February 18, 1918, there came a cable from Gen- 
eral Pershing which contained the following para- 
graph : 

Urgently request that at least 12 experienced administrative and 
executive officers be sent to France within the next six weeks to assist 
in organization and training of air service personnel in France, Eng- 
land and Italy. 

Feeling that the work of reorganizing the Air Personnel 
Division, which had been given me three months previously, 
had been virtually completed, so that my services could per- 
fectly well be spared at this time without in the slightest 
degree interfering with the progress of that department, 
I wrote on February 25 to General Squier, asking to be 
selected as one of the twelve officers to be sent to France 
"within the next six weeks." My request was favorably 
considered, and after the twelve names had been chosen 
and sent to France for approval and a cable received di- 
recting that the twelve be sent immediately, I was given my 
orders in the last week in March and immediately left for 
Hoboken. 

The trip across on the Aquitania was interesting as 
a study in psychology. She was at that time almost the 
largest ship on any ocean, and a fairly good target for a sub- 
marine. It was her first voyage with American troops, and 
there were rumors that the Germans were going to make 



72 AN EXPLORER 

a special effort to spoil it. When we got about half-way- 
over, we began to follow an extremely irregular course, zig- 
zagging at frequent intervals day and night, so as to make 
it difficult for a submarine to figure out where we would 
be at a given moment and lie in wait for us at that point. 
This zigzagging had an interesting result. One night 
when the sea was running rather high, we had frequently 
to proceed in the trough of the sea. This caused an amount 
of rolling which had not been at all anticipated when the 
Aquitania was constructed, and for which no provision had 
been made by securely screwing down all tables and chairs. 
As it was, we woke up to hear a terrific amount of noise. 
It was occasioned by tables, chairs, trunks, boxes, anything 
in fact that was not rigidly fastened down, rolling about on 
the decks and in the staterooms. The adjutant's office just 
over my cabin was nicely wrecked by tumbling typewriters ! 
As we approached the active submarine zone, we were 
warned to have our life-preservers always at hand, never to 
appear without them, and to sleep in our clothes. There was 
a certain amount of excitement visible on all faces that even- 
ing. The next morning, when a loud explosion occurred at 
dawn and the ship trembled violently and there was a sound 
of breaking glass, followed by several shots from the ship's 
guns, we all supposed that we had been struck by a tor- 
pedo. It appeared, however, that the unusual noise and con- 
cussion were caused by one of our own six-inch guns firing 
at a periscope, or what the gun crew and the guard watch 
believed to be a periscope, which suddenly appeared along- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 73 

side the steamer and only a few feet away. The concussion 
from the shot, which passed very close to the port bulwarks, 
was sufficient to blow in sheets of plate-glass three-eighths 
of an inch thick in the cabins on that side. 

Colonel Butts, of the 2d Division, who slept in one of 
these cabins and who supposed, as did every one that was 
aroused by the shot, that we had been attacked by a sub- 
marine, told me that his first thought was of wonder as to 
how his regiment (none of whom had ever been under fire) 
would take their first experience. Others said their first 
thought was of extreme anger. A distinguished civilian 
whose diplomatic duties had forced him to cross several times 
during the war, and who had become more hardened to sub- 
marine attacks than the rest of us, said his first thought was 
of the intense coldness of the water and the "very unpleas- 
ant" idea that he would soon be shivering in the icy waves! 

We landed in Liverpool on April 11 after a fairly ex- 
citing passage in which we fired some fifty or sixty rounds 
at what were supposed to be periscopes. The chief result 
of our firing, so far as I could learn, was to irritate the cap- 
tains of four or five destroyers which were convoying us 
during the last three days of our journey, and which had 
several narrow escapes from our shells. 

In Liverpool the children on the streets looked fairly well 
fed. The dock laborer did not appear to take the war too 
seriously. A few days before, notwithstanding the extremely 
critical situation in France (the great German spring drives 
began in the latter part of March), he had insisted on tak- 



74 AN EXPLORER 

ing his three days' Easter holiday as though nothing were 
happening. The bill of fare at the hotels was very meagre, 
however, and we were unable to get any meat, since we were 
transients and had no meat cards. 

In London it was the same way, only there the war was 
felt much more keenly. Children showed the effects of the 
shortage of butter and milk. Some of our friends were par- 
ticularly hard hit. It made one's heart ache. Yet on the chan- 
nel boats from Southampton to Havre there was abundance 
of everything, including meat and bread. 

I landed at Havre on April 14, and discovered that my 
confidential order from the War Department to "Report 
by wire to the Commanding General, etc.," was a joke 
played on all casual officers who went overseas. One or two 
had actually attempted to make their presence known to 
General Pershing, with somewhat unsatisfactory results! 
The great majority of us meekly consented to being ordered 
by the very polite first lieutenant, who met us here, to pro- 
ceed via Paris to Blois. 

In Paris the daily bombardment by Big Bertha was going 
on and causing great congestion in south-bound trains. 
While there was neither butter nor sugar at the hotels, there 
did not appear to be a shortage of anything else. Bread cards 
were coming into use, but were not as rigidly demanded as 
a few months later. It was an interesting commentary on 
the food habits of the two nations that while meat tickets 
were required in England, none were needed in France. 
On the other hand, in Paris bread tickets were in use while 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 75 

none were necessary in London. Travellers who remember 
the delicious "roast beef of Old England" and the surpass- 
ing delicacy of French rolls will need no further explanation. 

The picturesque old town of Blois with its charming his- 
torical chateaux and its winding hilly streets on the banks 
of the Loire was the scene of more heart-burning, so far as 
the American Army was concerned, than any other spot in 
France. In the first place, here were gathered hundreds of 
casual officers of all ranks who had come over, many of 
them by "request received in special cable from General 
Pershing" to do definite and "very important" work, with 
high hopes of being able immediately to take their share 
in bringing this war to a triumphant close. Here they sud- 
denly found themselves herded together with others equally 
unfortunate in an unimportant town far from G. H. Q. — 
still farther from the front line trenches, and at quite a con- 
siderable distance from any of the important posts to which 
they were so anxious to be sent. 

A few received welcome orders to proceed elsewhere and 
report on a real job after they had been here only three or 
four days. There were many others who could sympathize 
with the young Lieutenant in the Sanitary Corps, an im- 
portant specialist in some branch of Army Sanitation who 
had been "specially cabled for," and who, when I saw him, 
had been in Blois nearly six weeks doing nothing. He was 
standing in the lovely old garden of the Bishop's palace 
looking out toward the chateau of Chambord. In reply to 
my question he murmured: "I was trying to discover if 



76 AN EXPLORER 

there were any place within the radius of a day's walk that 
I had not yet seen. You see I have to report at least once a 
day for orders." It certainly gave one a helpless feeling to 
be unexpectedly dumped into this reservoir. As a matter of 
fact, General Pershing and his staff were drawing from it, 
as fast as needed, officers required for different positions. 

Blois also contained another and more serious group of 
unfortunates, namely, those officers who had failed to make 
good on the job to which they had been first assigned and 
who had been sent back for reclassification. When one con- 
siders the fact that the United States was faced with the ne- 
cessity of commissioning several thousand officers after 
only three months' intensive training in camps like Platts- 
burg, and that many men were graduated from those camps 
with the rank of Captain of Field Artillery who had never 
seen at close range a modern gun until a few weeks previ- 
ous, it is small wonder that there were a goodly number who 
failed to please the critical staff officers in the advanced 
training area, or who failed to measure up to the require- 
ments of rapidly changing tactics at the Front. So far as 
one could judge, there was no partiality. Efficiency was the 
only watchword, and it made no difference whether an of- 
ficer was a member of the regular permanent establishment, 
a national guardsman, or a recently appointed reserve offi- 
cer. If he failed to satisfy those who were held responsible 
for his performances, he was quickly relegated to Blois. 
Naturally his presence here did not conduce to the cheer- 
fulness of the historic town, but — thanks to an enlightened 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 77 

policy which has been described as "salvaging human 
material" — he was in most cases speedily fitted into another 
job which the Classification Board decided was better suited 
to his capacity. A few were sent home. 

It is not a pleasant sight, however, to see forty or fifty 
"failures" gathered together to come before an "Efficiency. 
Board," and this undoubtedly added to the anxiety of the 
recently arrived casual officers. To be sure, a few of the 
younger ones were kept busy drilling replacement troops 
and casuals just out of the hospital, but most of us, after 
having walked through the Chateau three or four times and 
having exhausted our ingenuity in attempting to get word 
to General Pershing that in accordance Math his cabled 
request we had arrived, found the time hang rather heavily 
on our hands. 

At last, however, the orders came for me to go to Tours, 
which was at that time the headquarters of the " S. O. S." — 
Services of Supply, known at various times by the names 
of Lines of Communication or Service of the Rear. Here we 
found that it was so many weeks or months since we had 
been cabled for that "they" had in the interim forgotten just 
what it was we were particularly wanted for. Furthermore, 
the plan of campaign had altered materially, due to the in- 
ability of the French airplane manufacturers to deliver the 
planes needed for service at the Front. Consequently it was 
necessary to "have patience for a few days more." Mean- 
while I heard some sad stories and began to realize how low 
the morale of many of our aviators had fallen. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE DISADVANTAGES OF BEING A PILOT 

TWO or three weeks before the first class graduated 
from the ground schools, word had come by cable 
from Air Service representatives in France that they had 
been able to arrange with the French flying schools to take 
a considerable number of our graduates. A few weeks later 
we received the request to send across the ocean five hundred 
cadets a month for training in France, and were assured by 
cable that they would be able to take care of even more than 
this number. Acting on this information, and on other cables 
that reached us from time to time, we were able to offer to 
honor graduates of the ground schools the privilege of being 
immediately sent to France to receive training on the latest 
type of French planes. This offer, coupled with the natural 
desire of every young man to get to France as soon as pos- 
sible, and the fact that the new American flying schools 
in the United States were slow in getting under way, and 
inadequately provided with airplanes, added tremendous 
zest to the work in the ground schools. Experienced teachers 
at Cornell and elsewhere assured me that the amount of 
work which these new students were able to do in a few 
weeks and the amount of knowledge and skill they were 
able to acquire was a perfect revelation. Never before had 
any attempt been made to teach so much in so short a time. 
Never before had it been assumed that the average student 
would work ten hours a day and would strive to his utmost 
to be included in the upper ten of the class. Never before 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 79 

had there been such powerful incentives to succeed in the 
classroom and the laboratory. On the other hand, never had 
there been such keen disappointment awaiting those who 
failed on a second attempt to pass a single examination. 
Every one worked with an intense devotion to the matter in 
hand. The fortunate ones who graduated with honors, as the 
result of almost unparalleled student industry, were sent 
rejoicing to the port of embarkation. 

Later on, as the cables called for more cadets, entire grad- 
uating classes were despatched to France. In the latter part 
of October we were told that we must send at least six 
hundred a month overseas. By this time our own flying 
schools were getting into shape to receive more than we could 
send them, but it was insisted that the greatest need and the 
greatest opportunity lay in the flying schools of France. So 
our graduates were rushed to Garden City and Hoboken 
as fast as they could pass the final examinations. Here the 
rushing stopped. 

Due to the ramifications of red tape, the necessity of 
securing satisfactory certificates of typhoid inoculation, 
cumbersome methods of shipping service records, and the 
general inability of the War Department to expand sud- 
denly from the requirements of a generation of comparative 
peace to the demands of a World War, there were weeks of 
delay at the port of embarkation in sending over the first 
few hundred cadets. Hence there was lost some of the pre- 
cious summer and fall which might have been used to great 
advantage on French flying fields. Added to this was an ex- 



80 AN EXPLORER 

traordinarily long period of bad weather in the fall of 1917, 
which prevented the usual amount of flying, and which in- 
terfered with the progress of our own new r flying school at 
Issoudun. Meanwhile, General Squier was not kept well 
informed of the actual progress of the training programme 
in France and had to act on meagre cables. 

About December first an entirely unexpected cable came 
like a bolt out of the blue, directing that no more cadets be 
sent to France until further notice. The sailing orders of 
perhaps two hundred and fifty cadets w ere immediately can- 
celled, and everybody was kept in suspense for several w r eeks, 
until it appeared that the plans for rapid training in France 
had completely broken down, and that no more cadets were 
to be sent abroad for many months to come. As a matter of 
fact, no more were ever sent until after they had passed their 
preliminary flying tests, and as Reserve Military Aviators 
earned the right to wear wings, and the bars of a Lieutenant. 

Never did a bright, iridescent soap-bubble burst more 
disappointingly. Nothing that I know r of in the war caused 
more mental suffering or greater loss of morale than the 
failure to provide properly for the honor graduates who went 
to France as cadets. As I remember it, about eighteen hun- 
dred cadets had been sent to France with the understanding 
that they were to receive immediate instruction in foreign 
flying schools. When they arrived there and found them- 
selves confined for months at a time in concentration and mo- 
bilization camps far from sight or hearing of an airplane, 
forced to study over and over again the very subjects which 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 81 

they had mastered with so much enthusiasm at American 
ground schools, treated by despairing officers as though 
they were "draft dodgers" who needed military discipline 
and who deserved reprobation rather than sympathy, their 
souls were filled with bitterness and their minds with evil 
thoughts against the War Department in general, and those 
officers in particular who commanded them in France. 
Some of these cadets had no opportunity to receive flying 
instruction for sioc months after they reached France. It has 
been well said that the greatest tragedy of youth is being 
obliged to wait. When in addition to the necessity of wait- 
ing is added a burning sense of injustice due to lack of faith 
and failure to keep promises, the result is truly appalling. 
There was worse to come, however, for in the spring of 
1918 there began to arrive in France as First Lieutenants, 
wearing wings, and speedily to be placed in positions of 
authority, the very classmates of these unfortunate cadets, 
who had not been quite keen enough to graduate with 
honor from the ground schools, had accordingly been sent 
to American flying schools, received their preliminary 
training, passed their tests as Reserve Military Aviators, 
received their commissions, and been sent abroad in re- 
sponse to other cables asking for a certain number of flying 
officers. It was hard enough to have to wait weeks and 
months for one's flying training, but it was adding insult 
to injury when, as a cadet with the rank of Private, First 
Class, and the status of an enlisted candidate for commis- 
sion, you had respectfully to salute and take orders from 



82 AN EXPLORER 

these young officers whom you had passed in the race, 
months before, thanks to your own diligence and hard 
work. And there was the added bitterness that when you 
finally received your commission, you would still be out- 
ranked, due to the priority of their commissions. 

Feeling as keenly as I did about this terrific disappoint- 
ment that had been the lot of the earliest and most brilliant 
graduates of the ground schools, I made every effort when 
I arrived in France in the spring of 1918 to try and dis- 
cover who was responsible for the hideous mistake, and 
why we had received no warning before that cable of the 
first of December. But I never obtained any satisfaction on 
these points. So far as I could learn then, no one person, 
but rather a series of events, was at the bottom of the 
trouble. 

To our first representatives who went abroad in the late 
spring and early summer of 1917, the French airplane 
manufacturers (naturally anxious to be as obliging as 
possible) had optimistically promised a large number of 
airplanes both for training and fighting purposes, to be 
delivered at the rate of about one thousand per month. Their 
hopes were vain, and their promises were not carried out. 
Some of the raw material which they had counted on was 
sunk by Hun submarines ; some of it was diverted to our 
own programme of building in this country. Perhaps, also, 
our representatives had not properly discounted the natural 
optimism of manufacturers anxious to obtain huge Ameri- 
can contracts. So far as I could learn unofficially, at a time 






IN THE AIR SERVICE 83 

when we should have been in receipt of seven thousand 
airplanes, we had received about one thousand. As a matter 
of fact, it was not until June, 1918, that the deliveries be- 
gan to come anywhere near our demands and expectations. 
Then, of course, planes came through faster than we could 
use them, and caused another sudden dislocation of plans. 
But that is another story. 

As so often happens, it takes "outsiders" to see what is 
the matter with a factory. The men who have been consci- 
entiously trying to make it run become blinded to condi- 
tions which an outsider, called in to criticise, sees at first 
glance. Accordingly, it was not strange that when General 
Foulois and his large staff' of Air Service officers arrived 
in France in November, 1917, they at once saw things in a 
new light. Before many days they came to the conclusion 
that no more cadets ought to be sent to France. Hence, the 
cable of December first. 

In the mean time, enormous damage had been done to the 
morale of the cadets. The problem of caring for the eighteen 
hundred who were on hand demanding flying instruction 
was one that required earnest consideration for many months 
to come. As has been stated, the difficulties were intensified 
by an unusually bad winter. Furthermore, the French sys- 
tem of training, which we were forced to adopt, was not 
nearly as rapid as the English system or our own. The pre- 
liminary training plane in general use in France was the old- 
fashioned Caudron, which has no ailerons and no fuselage. 
In order to fly it you have to warp the wings, a process re- 



84 AN EXPLORER 

quiring a considerable amount of exertion and a very heavy 
hand. Rough landings can be made almost with impunity. 
The ship will not dive fast. It is in general a very safe old 
"bus," resting on long skids and having no wheels. It flies at 
low speed, can be landed almost anywhere without crashing, 
and is very amusing to one accustomed to modern planes. 
It was the type of plane used by Vedrines when he made 
his sensational landing on top of a department store in Paris 
in the spring of 1919. 

All of these things mean that, in our opinion, it was not 
nearly so well adapted to teach preliminary flying as the 
Curtiss JN-4 or the English Avro. When one considers that 
the next step in advanced flying, after having mastered the 
Caudron, was to learn to fly a Nieuport, which is almost the 
exact opposite of a Caudron, it seems as though the French 
officers who designed this system had purposely made it as 
difficult as possible. Instead of being slow on the controls 
like the Caudron, the Nieuport is extremely sensitive to 
handle. It will dive with great rapidity. It is difficult to land, 
and bad landings cannot be made with impunity. For ex- 
ample, on Field No. 2 at Issoudun — where advanced stu- 
dents received their first instructions in flying a Nieuport, 
using the Nieuport 23 -meter, dual control, with an experi- 
enced teacher in the front seat — eighty-three machines were 
put out of commission on the landing-field in two days of fine 
weather in May, 1918. As I remember it, the four remain- 
ing machines did not last long on the next day. To be sure, 
the cause for this amazing casualty list was an entire lack 




Nieaport 80, 23-meter, 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor 




Avro, 110 H.P. Le Rhone motor 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 85 

of wind and the tendency of the Nieuport to make a cheval- 
de-bois, or spin around on the ground as in an old-fashioned 
square dance. When there is a little wind, it is fairly easy 
to keep the Nieuport rolling straight ahead, as it loses speed 
after landing, but when there is no wind to assist the be- 
ginner in maintaining steerage-way, a cheval is difficult to 
avoid. Since the Nieuport had no wing skids and since it 
was very difficult to adjust suitable skids to the bottom of 
the single " V "-shaped strut, this tendency to cheval was 
continually causing the breakage of lower wings. 

Many of the pilots declared that it was like learning to 
fly all over again when one went from a slow-going, safe 
old bus like the Caudron to the fast, delicate, tricky Nieu- 
port. Men who had been trained to fly on the Curtiss JN-4 
made much better progress, and those who received their 
first instructions on an Avro went even faster. Our cadets 
in France in the winter of 1917-18, however, had to de- 
pend upon receiving their first instruction on Caudrons. 
Furthermore, some of the cadets who left New York in No- 
vember, 1917, had no opportunity even to get into a Cau- 
dron before June, 1918. 

In the mean time, the Secretary of War had been to 
France and become personally acquainted with the woes 
of these unfortunate candidates for commissions. As a re- 
sult of his visit, those cadets who had not yet passed their 
flying tests were commissioned in May and June, these 
commissions being conditioned on their eventually being 
able to fly, and subject to cancellation in case they did not 



86 AN EXPLORER 

succeed. This relieved the situation so far as pay and rank 
were concerned, but it did not actually hasten their arrival at 
the Front. The goal for which they had worked so hard in 
those strenuous days in the ground schools in the summer 
of 1917, namely, the opportunity to get into squadrons and 
fly over the lines, was still far away. 

Then there came another blow, which seemed directed 
at what little vanity remained, and intended to destroy 
whatever satisfaction they might feel in having at last be- 
come officers. In common with all other student officers in 
France, they were forbidden to wear the insignia of an offi- 
cer while in a training camp. As most of them were faced 
with the necessity of spending several months longer in at- 
tending the courses in advanced and specialized flying, this 
seemed almost like taking all the pleasure out of life. To be 
given a commission and then told you could not wear the 
insignia connected with it was like giving candy to chil- 
dren and telling them they could not eat it. 

There were several reasons for this decision on the part 
of G. H. Q. In the first place, it had been the custom in the 
Officers Training Camps at home for officers who held re- 
serve commissions and had been sent to these camps to re- 
ceive further instruction to remove their student insignia as 
long as they were student officers. In the second place, many 
of the cadets were very unmilitary, and it was believed that 
it would be easier to secure adequate military discipline if 
the students did not obviously outrank the instructor ser- 
geants who were giving lessons. In the third place, there 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 87 

was a story that what finally brought about the issuance of 
the order was an occurrence in one of the advanced schools 
of the staff or the line. It seems that a number of field offi- 
cers arrived to take the course. An efficient young second 
lieutenant who had been at the Front for several months 
attempted to take them in charge and have them march in 
an orderly manner to their barracks. To this the colonels and 
majors made amused protest and decided to go along as they 
pleased, feeling that it was not necessary to take orders in 
this manner from a second lieutenant. Consequently, in order 
to enable the efficient but youthful instructors to accomplish 
their ends with greater facility and less embarrassment to 
themselves and to their students, the general order was issued 
that student officers would remove insignia while in school; 
an order which our young pilots felt was directed particu- 
larly against them. 

In the course of time this was changed, but in the mean 
while, although it probably was of assistance in maintaining 
discipline, it did not help to cheer up the student officers of 
the Air Service. To be sure, in itself it was only a little thing, 
but coming as it did on top of so many other indignities and 
disappointments, it was felt very keenly. 

The loss of morale that followed in the wake of cadet 
delays and disappointments showed itself in a number of 
ways, which in turn reacted on the fortunes of the un- 
happy flying officers. The sentries at the gate of one of the 
flying schools would stop young officers with the irritating 
question : "Are you an officer or a flying lieut?" 



88 AN EXPLORER 

Some of the pilots had been so badgered and tormented 
by their superior officers that they no longer desired to be 
good soldiers. Some instructors maintained that many of 
their students did not wish to learn to fly, were afraid of 
the air, and were anxious to avoid its dangers. It was said 
that the students seized every opportunity to offer excuses 
for not flying. It was claimed on the part of the students 
that their teachers were often unsympathetic and even brutal 
in their attitude, and that it was impossible to do good work 
under such methods of instruction. The truth was that 
officers in charge of flying, working under a great strain, 
sometimes failed to take into consideration the reasons for 
this loss of morale and attributed it most unfeelingly to 
other causes. Undoubtedly there were serious instances of 
harsh treatment by instructors, occasioned by misconduct 
on the part of students, but causing in their turn still fur- 
ther lowering of morale and loss of interest in the Air Ser- 
vice. 

Another disappointed hope was that of becoming Junior 
Military Aviators. The boys used to refer to the printed 
statements that on completing the R. M. A. test, the pilots 
would be commissioned First Lieutenants, and that on com- 
pleting the more difficult J. M. A. test, the pilots would se- 
cure an advance in grade and 50 per cent increase in pay. 
There were very few of the thousands of young men that 
came into the Air Service during the first few months of the 
war that did not expect to be Captains before very long, 
provided they could learn to fly at all. This was one of the 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 89 

reasons why they volunteered to undergo the most danger- 
ous training of any branch of the army. Having enlisted in 
the Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps, and having started on 
the aviation road, there was nothing for them to do but swal- 
low their disappointment when, as the months went on, they 
discovered that most of them were destined to be Second 
Lieutenants, and that they were never to be allowed to take 
the J. M. A. test and secure additional rank and pay as con- 
templated by Congress and set forth in the original official 
bulletins. 

This disappointment was a source of constant grumbling 
and complaint and the cause of many accusations of breach 
of faith and unfair dealing. No business organization which 
failed so glaringly to keep faith with its employees could ex- 
pect to have their loyalty. It was certainly most unfortunate 
that the unwisdom of promising so much rank and pay to 
youthful, high-spirited boys of nineteen and twenty could 
not have been foreseen earlier. 

An immense amount of complaint was caused by the 
necessity of arbitrarily setting a date which affected thou- 
sands of cadets who had been accepted as candidates for a 
First Lieutenant's commission and were then undergoing 
or awaiting training, and stating that if they graduated 
or took their R. M. A. test after this date, they would auto- 
matically become Second Lieutenants. In a majority of cases 
it was entirely beyond the control of the cadet as to what 
date he should graduate. In many cases injustice was un- 
avoidable. The consequent lowering of morale due to in- 



90 AN EXPLORER 

fection and contagion from the disappointed and disaffected 
aviators was very natural. 

There were other causes of dissatisfaction: the amount 
of power, rank, and promotion given to non-flying officers ; 
the slowness of promotion among flying officers; the un- 
willingness of the army to provide a comfortable blouse for 
the pilot ; and the failure on the part of the army to realize 
that different standards of work and discipline should be 
expected of a highly technical and purely voluntary service 
like aviation, where individual initiative and high morale are 
so necessary. It would seem obvious that in no branch of the 
service should more attention be given to preparing carefully 
thought-out plans which it will not be necessary to change 
in such a way as to destroy confidence and hope. Changes 
that disappoint and hurt the feelings of those whose morale 
must be built up should be avoided at all costs. Everything 
should be done to make the young pilots glad they belong 
to such a keen corps instead of being sorry, as so many of 
them were, that they had ever been misled into joining the 
Army Air Service. 

The story of the flying cadets is the worst page in the 
history of the Air Service. They were forced by a combi- 
nation of circumstances, over which no one seemed to have 
any control, to suffer serious and exasperating delays, dis- 
appointments, and "raw deals," which tended to break their 
spirit and destroy their self-respect. Notwithstanding this, 
the great majority of them completed their training and 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 91 

performed such duties as were assigned to them to the best 
of their knowledge and ability. It should not be forgotten 
that their sufferings were due fundamentally to the blind 
unpreparedness with which we drifted into war. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PERSONNEL OFFICE IN TOURS 

ON the last day of April, 1918, I was designated as 
Chief of Personnel for the Air Service, A. E. F., in 
which position I continued until August 23 of the same 
year. Air Service Headquarters in Tours were located at 
Beaumont Barracks, which had only recently been com- 
pleted for the use of French Cavalry, but had never been' 
occupied until it was leased by the American Expeditionary 
Forces. It was by far the pleasantest of any of the barracks 
used in Tours by the Services of Supply. 

At the time of my arrival a general reorganization in the 
Air Service in France was going on. In other words, they 
were doing what we had done so often at Washington — 
attempting to make the clothes fit the rapidly growing child. 
By the time the clothes were altered, the child had grown so 
much more that they were still too small. This particular 
reorganization was effected after several weeks of study 
on the part of a board composed of the most efficient Colo- 
nels on duty in the office of the Chief of Air Service. The 
general result was to give more responsibility and authority 
to the Section Chiefs, namely, the Chief of Training, Chief 
of Personnel, Chief of Supply, and Chief of Balloon. The 
Chief of Balloon also had under his jurisdiction the Infor- 
mation Section, the Photographic Section, and the Radio 
Section. 

In general, the organization was well conceived and prac- 
ticable. The feature of grouping Balloon, Radio, Photogra- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 93 

phy, and Information under one head was satisfactory only 
because of the ability of Colonel Chandler, who filled this 
unique position. His long experience, even temperament, 
unfailing courtesy, and wide technical knowledge enabled 
him to give satisfaction in a position that probably would 
have brought disaster to any one else. 

The chief stumbling-block to the success of the new plan 
lay in the fact that the sections could not all work in the 
same place. The Supply Section was obliged to be near the 
principal sources of supply, that is, the offices and factories 
of the French in Paris. The Personnel Section was obliged 
to be in Tours because all orders were issued by Head- 
quarters S. O. S., located in Tours. The Training Section 
should have been at Chaumont, in close touch with the 
Training Section of the General Staff, in constant liaison 
with the activities at the Front, and able to reach all schools 
in the S. O. S. As a matter of fact, it was located so far away 
from the Front as to earn the adverse criticism of organiza-* 
tions at the Front and the distrust of the General Staff. 

The Chief of Air Service, himself, found it necessary to 
spend a great deal of time on the road and to maintain 
three separate offices, one in Chaumont, one in Paris, and 
one in Tours. As a result, it was difficult to keep in touch 
with him, and many decisions had to be made either with- 
out consulting him or with inadequate information on his 
part. During the whole period of my stay in France, the ne- 
cessity for the Chief of Air Service to be in three places at 
once militated very seriously against the success of our pro- 



94 AN EXPLORER 

gramme. The hopelessness of the situation would seem to 
emphasize the need of a different kind of organization. It 
was foolish to expect one man to fight for supply with the 
French and British Governments and manufacturers, to 
direct the movement and training of all personnel in such 
widely diverse activities as balloon, radio, photography, and 
flying, and at the same time be in charge of aerial activi- 
ties at the Front, direct the movements and activities of the 
squadrons and companies in the zone of advance, and at- 
tend to the details of squadron organization. 

The new scheme went into effect shortly before the first 
of May, but it did not last long. In the latter part of May, 
General Foulois was sent to take command of active oper- 
ations at the Front and General Mason M. Patrick of the 
Engineer Corps, who had never been in the Air Service 
but had been in charge of the Division of Construction 
and Forestry, was made Chief of Air Service. There is a tra- 
dition in the army that any regular officer can take any 
army job, and General Patrick certainly justified this tra- 
dition. Notwithstanding his unfamiliarity with aviation and 
his belief that at his age he could give better service by 
travelling on the ground than in the air, he rapidly assim- 
ilated a thorough knowledge of the Air Service in the A.E. F. 
His remarkable memory and extraordinary capacity for the 
mastery of minute details enabled him in a very few weeks 
to secure a thorough grasp of the situation and to under- 
take a new reorganization. 

His office memorandum No. 23 reorganized the duties of 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 95 

the officer in charge of Air Personnel, and it explains better 
than anything else my duties as they were in the summer 
of 1918. 

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF AIR SERVICE 

Tours 
Office Memorandum No. 23. 

1. There will be an Officer in charge of Personnel, upon whom 
will rest the responsibility for providing the man power needed to 
carry out approved programs and estimates of needs furnished to 
him. The Chief of Personnel will have charge of the Personnel Sec- 
tion of the Office of the Chief of Air Service and of Air Service 
Replacement Concentration Barracks. He will be a member of the 
Strategic Section and will be furnished as far in advance as possible 
with copies of approved programs and estimates of personnel needs. 

2. The Personnel Section has the following duties: — 

(a) To procure and assign officers, cadets, candidates, enlisted men 
and civilian personnel, for the Air Service, and to coordinate and 
list requests for the same in their relative order of emergency. 

(Ji) To keep track of all incoming personnel and to give desti- 
nations for it as long as possible in advance. 

(c) To notify the Commanding Officer at the destination to which 
incoming troops are to be sent as far in advance as possible so that 
proper provision may be made for caring for such arrivals. 

(V) To provide the requisite number of officers for all squadrons, 
particularly for those which are being sent to the front. 

(e) To prepare plans for the distribution of these squadrons in 
accordance with the approved Air Service program. 

(y) To request from proper authority orders for travel and change 
of station. 

(£-)To handle all correspondence relative to personnel and keep 
such records and files pertaining to Air Service personnel as may 
properly be kept in the Office of the Chief of Air Service. 

(A) To keep a list of officers by rank, grade and occupation. 



96 AN EXPLORER 

(f) To refer to properly constituted examining boards the names 
of approved candidates for flying training. To receive the reports of 
these examinations and review the action of the board before for- 
warding report to higher authority. 

3. Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks [St. Maxient] 
has the following duties: 

(a) To classify all officers and men that maybe sent there for duty. 

(£) To complete the Quartermaster and Ordnance equipment of 
enlisted men passing through this station. 

(c) To examine the organization of squadrons passing through 
the barracks, and see that these organizations conform as far as pos- 
sible to that laid down in the approved tables of organization. To 
organize squadrons from available troops. To see that all squadrons 
passing through are provided with suitable ground officers, and in 
general act as the agent of the Personnel Section in organizing squad- 
rons according to the plan of mobilization for squadrons as laid down 
by the Chief of Air Service. 

(V) To maintain a ground school for aviation students in accord- 
ance with the program laid down by the Chief of Training, who will 
exercise direct supervision of the course of study, designate instructors, 
inspect the school, nominate a liaison officer who shall be a member 
of the staff of the Commanding Officer of the Barracks to represent 
the Chief of -Training in all matters pertaining to the ground schools 
for aviation students. 

(e) To maintain a ground officers' school for training adjutants, 
supply officers and engineering officers in accordance with program 
laid down by the Chief of Personnel who will exercise supervision 
of the course of study, nominate instructors and be responsible for 
the proper training of ground officers, and for providing such train- 
ing for flying officers who have temporarily or permanently lost fly- 
ing ability as will enable them to be useful for other than flying duty. 

(Signed') Mason M. Patrick, 

Major General, N. A. 
C. A. S. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 97 

To assist me in this undertaking there were in the Per- 
sonnel Office in Tours some sixteen officers, and seventy-five 
enlisted men who acted as clerks ; while at St. Maxient 
there was Colonel A. Lippincott, the commanding officer of 
the post, and his staff. All worked with unremitting energy 
to carry out the programme as laid down. 

Of the difficulties that were due to lack of proper office 
equipmentand scarcity of efficient stenographers, it is hardly 
necessary to speak, for they were not in any way confined 
to our office, but were well-nigh universal in the A. E. F. It 
was a pleasure to see how everybody strove to overcome all ob- 
stacles. Particular mention must be made of Captain Cleve- 
land Cobb, whose careful attention to the details of the Offi- 
cers' Section brought it to a high state of efficiency ; Captain 
Hamilton Hadley, whose thorough familiarity with army 
regulations and the latest authorities oiled the wheels of our 
intercourse with other branches of the service ; Lieutenant 
Walter Tufts, whose courtesy and tact in dealing with anx- 
ious visitors permitted the routine work of the office to pro- 
ceed with a minimum number of interruptions ; and Master 
Signal Electrician Walter Buchanan, whose long experience 
in the care of records and files made possible the smooth run- 
ning of that machinery on which a personnel office depends 
so largely for its efficiency. 

In my new position I tiad an opportunity to learn much 
about the kind of personnel in our squadrons. The enlisted 
personnel of the Air Service was remarkable for its high- 
grade technical ability and splendid devotion to duty. In the 



98 AN EXPLORER 

face of many difficulties the enlisted men always showed a 
willingness to accept disagreeable assignments as well as 
to perform their regular duties at unusual hours that was 
extremely praiseworthy. Many of them came from highly 
paid trades, and a large number had enlisted expecting to 
fly. The way they did their work and accepted the inevitable 
was very fine. It was my observation that it would have been 
difficult, if not impossible, to have secured better men. I be- 
lieve that it was fortunate that enlistment in the Air Ser- 
vice was possible at a time when enlistments in most branches 
of the army were forbidden. Consequently we had an op- 
portunity to secure the more intelligent American me- 
chanics. 

I believe it would have been better had we earlier adopted 
a plan whereby enlisted men above the grade of corporal 
could have become candidates for non-flying commissions. 
When an enlisted man had done extremely well, and was 
anxious to fly, but was turned down by the doctor as being 
physically unfit to be a pilot, there was no hope for him to 
secure a commission in most cases, unless he left the service 
in which he had received his training. Therefore it was 
unfortunate that so many of the positions of Adjutant, Sup- 
ply Officer, and Engineer Officer were given to men without 
military experience. To have reserved a large number of 
these places for enlisted candidates would have furnished an 
additional incentive and stimulated competition. As would 
be expected, however, our enlisted mechanics frequently 
showed remarkable ingenuity and inventiveness. Some ef- 




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LSkK %) 



■ *r>~*~ 7»- *»' ♦&>.* 









1 




IN THE AIR SERVICE 99 

fort was made to procure from the enlisted personnel descrip- 
tions and drawings of their inventions and ideas. 

In the Personnel Office we also saw and heard many 
things about the conduct of our cadets and even of our flying 
officers. It should be remembered that the cadets were, for 
the most part, drawn from among a class of young, irrespon- 
sible, venturesome, athletic boys, who were willing to take 
the risks of aviation training at a time when about four per 
cent of all advanced students were killed in training. They 
felt they were gambling with their lives whenever they went 
up. Had they had a greater sense of responsibility, it is 
doubtful whether many of them would have volunteered 
for flying duty. Consequently it is not to be wondered at 
that many of them committed indiscretions of conduct in 
public which brought upon them severe criticism. The fact 
that they wore wings or special white hatbands made them 
particularly conspicuous, and made it possible for the aver- 
age person to identify them with the Air Service. Officers 
or candidates of other services could not be so readily iden- 
tified by casual observers. The destruction of morale by the 
long period of disappointment and delay which most of the 
cadets encountered showed itself in an unsoldierly attitude 
toward military rules and discipline, which, while repre- 
hensible, was not surprising. The noteworthy and remark- 
able thing is that so many of them did so well. 

The same remarks apply to a large percentage of the 
flying officers. It was particularly hard for student flying 
officers to submit to the necessary discipline. I believe that 



100 AN EXPLORER 

in the future it would be far better to postpone the actual com- 
mission of the pilot until his training is completed and he 
is ready to take his place in a squadron. 

Had the older flying officers of higher rank done more 
flying, they could have raised the spirits and enthusiasm 
of the younger men. It would be hard for a cavalry regi- 
ment to be commanded by a colonel who either did not 
know how to ride horseback or who was afraid of a horse. It 
is just as hard for a group of aviators to be commanded by 
an officer who does not know how to fly or is afraid of the 
air. It was most unfortunate that circumstances demanded 
the presence in the Air Service of so many non-flying offi- 
cers. I believe there should be no officers in the Air Service 
who have not earned their wings, and are not willing and 
ready to make frequent flights, either as pilots or observers. 

It was also unfortunate that quite a proportion of the 
non-flying officers sent to France had received little or no 
military training, having been commissioned in the sum- 
mer of 1917, before schools for non-flying officers with their 
keen competition and stringent examinations were estab- 
lished. Some of these officers did well ; while others, who 
had no experience in handling men, were failures, as was 
to be expected. I believe that in the future non-flying posi- 
tions in the Air Service should be filled by former flyers or 
by candidates from among the best enlisted men in the 
squadrons, who, after being selected, should be required to 
take thorough courses and pass strict and competitive exam- 
inations, both on the ground and in the air. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 101 

Feeling as I did about the necessity of having the older 
officers ready to assume at any time the risks of flying, I 
wanted to fly as much as possible myself. While on duty 
at Washington there had been no opportunity to fly after I 
passed my Reserve Military Aviator test. Some members of 
my family and many of my friends insisted that it was fool- 
ish for me to take the risks of flying when not required to do 
so by the nature of my work. After giving the matter con- 
siderable thought, I sent the following communication to the 
Chief of Air Service : 

. . . request to be allowed to use such time as can be spared from 
my duties as Chief of Personnel, without seriously interfering with 
the business of this office, in continuing my flying instruction which 
ended at Mineola last August with the passing of my R. M. A. test. 
My principal reason for making this request is the belief that it is 
good policy for the older flying officers in the Air Service to keep up 
with their flying. It is believed that it is not beneficial for the morale 
of the Air Service that Field Officers, who are in charge of impor- 
tant parts of the Air Service program, should seldom ever fly them- 
selves. It is believed to be just as important for the Field Officers in 
the Air Service to subject themselves to the ordinary risks of flying 
as it is for the Field Officers in the Infantry Regiments to subject 
themselves to the ordinary risks of trench warfare. 

My request was approved, and whenever occasion offered 
I continued flying. I learned how to fly a Caudron and a 
23 -meter Nieuport, but it was difficult to fly regularly, and 
I had two crashes, one due to my own stupidity, and one 
due to engine failure. 

The first thing that impressed me after my arrival at Air 



102 AN EXPLORER 

Service Headquarters in Tours was that some of the older 
officers of the regular army who were in positions of author- 
ity in the Air Service appeared to be more interested in 
the progress of the Infantry in the trenches than in the 
problems of the Air Service. I may have been mistaken, but 
that is the way it seemed to me. Furthermore, it was evi- 
dent from their conversation that several of them who had 
been in the Air Service in France for five or six months, 
and who had been given advanced commissions in the Air 
Service, had made little or no attempt to study Military 
Aeronautics. Some of them were unfamiliar with the ordi- 
nary terms used on a flying field. They had spent very little 
time with pilots or aeronautical engineers. They could not 
talk the same language. That such men should have the 
power to make important decisions and determine aviation 
policies was bound to lead to discontent and dissatisfaction 
on the part of the aviators. 

The failure of a large proportion of the regular army 
officers who accepted commissions as Colonels and Majors 
in the newly expanded Air Service in the fall and winter of 
1917, to make any effort to qualify either as pilots or ob- 
servers and who did not even travel cross-country as pas- 
sengers, made it hard for the young pilots to accept ungrudg- 
ingly some of their decisions. The situation was quite similar 
to what would happen if a Captain in the Navy were put 
in charge of a Cavalry Post and never was seen to mount a 
horse or attempt to learn to ride, or if a Captain in the Army 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 103 

was put in charge of a battleship and never went out of port. 

At the flying schools it was most essential that the com- 
manding officer be a flyer if he were to secure the respect of 
his staff, and be able to command his post with sympathetic 
understanding. A few incidents which were current gossip 
among the pilots will serve to show why some of the non- 
flying commanders of flying fields failed to make good, even 
though they had had long experience as infantry or cavalry 
officers in the regular army. At one of the largest fields, the 
commanding officer on his first tour of inspection was greatly 
astonished to see several relatively new airplanes badly 
smashed up and hopelessly out of commission. He inquired 
whether they had been properly made and properly inspected 
on their arrival, and when he was assured that this was the 
case, asked, "Why, then, are they out of commission now 
when they are only a few weeks old?" "Rough landings," 
was the laconic reply of the officer in charge of flying. " This 
new bunch of cadets will persist in making bad landings." 
"I will remedy that," said the new C. O. And the next day he 
issued a written order that there should be "no more rough 
landings." 

To his mind, trained by a dozen years in the cavalry, it 
was like saying that horses went lame because they were 
not shod properly, and he proposed to insist that in the future 
this deficiency should be remedied as it could have been in 
the cavalry by issuing a military order. Thoughtlessness or 
perhaps utter lack of experience in learning to fly naturally 



104 AN EXPLORER 

made him suppose that rough landings were caused entirely 
by carelessness and disregard of the value of Government 
property. 

Another excellent cavalry officer at another flying school 
signalized his arrival to take command by ordering a hitch- 
ing-post erected in front of his headquarters. He had been 
accustomed for many years to performing his outdoor 
duties on horseback, and it was perfectly natural that he 
should wish to continue the practice. As soon as he got his 
hitching-post put in he ordered his orderly to bring his 
horse, and proceeded to attempt to inspect the flying field 
on horseback ! His horse took exception to the noise caused 
by several machines whose engines were being warmed up 
"on the line" in front of the hangars. As his horse pranced 
around in front of the planes, he waved his hands, and as 
soon as he could make himself heard, shouted out the order, 
"Stop those fans! Don't you see they scare my horse?" It 
may be easily imagined how glad the young pilots of the 
flying school were to take orders from one who was so keenly 
interested in their work. 

The ignorance of some of these old cavalry officers of the 
very A B C of aeronautics was quite extraordinary. One 
of them in command of one of our flying fields in France 
had apparently never even read that the Wright Brothers 
had solved the secret of practical flight by making the wings 
of their first airplanes capable of being warped. This warp- 
ing of the wings, while no longer used in most planes, was 
still a feature of the Caudron biplane with which his school 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 105 

was largely provided. Soon after he took command of the 
school he learned that the Caudron was not popular with 
the young pilots, who gave as one of the reasons for their 
dissatisfaction with this old-fashioned bus, that instead of 
its being equipped with ailerons, the wings warped. To this 
he immediately replied that he would prevent that in the 
future, and ordered that all planes be immediately taken 
into the hangars and not left out in the sun "where their 
wings could warp." It was at this school, as I have been told 
by several pilots, that their morale reached its lowest point, 
and that many of them would have been glad to be able to 
get out of the Air Service and into the trenches. 

No body of pilots ever had a keener sense of loyalty to 
their leaders or better morale than the Royal Flying Corps. 
There is a story told about General Brancker, one of the 
chief officers in the R. F. C, that illustrates how far the 
higher officers of the British Air Service carried the idea of 
the importance of using airplanes rather than motor cars 
for their tours of inspection. General Brancker was not a very 
good pilot and frequently made rather bad landings and 
crashed his running gear, but this never deterred him from 
the belief that it was better not to adopt any safer means of 
transportation than were used by his own pilots. One day in 
landing on an airdrome for the purpose of inspection, and 
before he had time to take off his helmet and goggles, the 
young Officer in Charge of Flying rushed up greatly ex- 
cited, told him to get out of the machine and never to 
enter one again, and that he was a disgrace to the service. 



106 AN EXPLORER 

"I do not think you know who I am," said the distinguished 
pilot, adjusting his monocle. "I am General Brancker." "Oh, 
I beg your pardon, sir," replied the horrified Lieutenant. "I 
thought you were that young 'Hun' who hopped off just 
three minutes ago to try and make one more landing and 
prove to me that the instructor was wrong who had given 
him up as hopeless." Nobody cared that General Brancker 
did not fly as well as the younger pilots. What they did care 
about was that he played the game and was not afraid. 

It is true that in the summer of 1918 orders were issued 
in Washington encouraging all officers in the Air Service 
to learn to fly, but these orders could be carried out only par- 
tially in France, where facilities for preliminary instruction 
in flying were extremely limited, and where every training 
plane was needed to hasten the progress of cadets and flying 
officers on their way to the Front. 



CHAPTER X 

A FEW HOURS AT THE FRONT 

WE watched the German advance toward Paris 
in the spring of 1918 with alarm. Most of the 
French factories were in the Paris area, and many of them 
were north of Paris. It was the location in that " north of Paris " 
district of such a very large percentage of French munition 
factories, as well as airplane works, that made the situation 
so serious. 

It will be remembered that after the downfall of Russia, 
the Huns gathered themselves together for a series of 
crushing attacks in great force on the Western Front. The 
first came in March and resulted in a gain of about thirty 
miles. The second came in the early part of April and caused 
the dissolution of the British Fifth Army and netted another 
gain of about thirty miles for the Germans. The third came 
in the latter part of May and netted still another thirty miles. 
This time the Huns reached the River Marne at Chateau- 
Thierry, and were stopped only by the timely arrival of Amer- 
ican troops, in particular by the remarkable work of the 7th, 
8th, and 9th Machine Gun Battalions. Their performance 
was all the more noteworthy because they had arrived in 
France only six weeks before and had not completed their 
training. 

The story of how they marched north to Chateau-Thierry 
in the face of thousands of war-weary retreating French 
troops, and of how they refused to be discouraged by the 
sight of French machine gun battalions, veteran troops, hur- 



108 AN EXPLORER 

rying south by the same roads on which they were slowly 
working their way north, is one that will always make 
Americans proud. Our men had never been in action before, 
yet they displayed a courage and coolness which won un- 
stinted praise from the French Generals who witnessed their 
performance. The French generously and frankly admitted 
that it was the Americans who had stopped the Germans at 
Chateau -Thierry. 

It should not be forgotten, however, that in this third big 
push the Huns had practically reached their objective before 
our troops came into action. Each one of the three big drives 
had been successful in gaining about thirty miles advance 
ground. If they could manage to do it once more — and there 
was no apparent reason why a fourth attempt should not 
be as successful as the first three — it would bring them so 
near Paris that the great manufacturing area in the district 
north of Paris would either be captured or entirely destroyed 
by artillery fire. This would mean the loss of what was the 
source of more than eighty-five per cent of the munitions 
that were at that time supplying not only the French Army, 
but ours. We understood that this referred particularly to 
ordnance and aeronautical supplies. 

Furthermore, such an advance on the part of the Germans 
would enable them to bring so large a number of guns 
to bear on Paris itself as to necessitate a move south on 
the part of the French Government. Plans for this move 
seem to have been perfected in the latter part of June and 
early part of July. For several weeks thousands of motor 




Formation Flying: Taking-off 




Formation Flying: Group 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 109 

trucks waited for a "hurry call" to take official Paris to 
Bordeaux. 

Had this happened, it is doubtful whether Clemenceau 
could have retained his hold on the Government. His min- 
istry would probably have fallen. The Socialists under 
Briand would have come in; and they might have been 
willing to accept favorable terms from the Germans. The 
situation was grave in the extreme. It looked as though 
there was an excellent probability that the Germans would 
offer such attractive terms to the new French Government 
as to force them to realize that the loss of the great manu- 
facturing district north of Paris made it impractical and un- 
wise for them to attempt to continue the conflict any longer. 

Fortunately, the thousands of trucks never were needed. 
The rapid arrival of fresh American troops, brought over 
at the expense of adequate shipments of supplies, turned 
the scales. The distribution of these troops up and down 
the Western Front was one of the master strokes of Mar- 
shal Foch. The presence of American soldiers encouraged 
the weary troops of the Allies, and the fact of our being able 
to fight under the eyes of the war veterans encouraged our 
men to perform feats of valor practically unheard of in the 
annals of green, inexperienced armies. 

One other thing seems to have been of paramount im- 
portance. That was the development under Marshal Foch 
of aerial night reconnaissance. The success of the great Hun 
drives of March, April, and May, 1918, had been due in a 
large measure to the old-fashioned element of surprise, an 



110 AN EXPLORER 

element which aerial photographers and the progress of 
photographic interpretation had almost eliminated in 1917. 
The German General Staff met this situation by moving 
their troops at night, and by doing it in such a manner as 
to leave no marks which the aerial photographers could 
secure the next day. The enemy troops were ordered to 
stick to the roads and carefully instructed to make no new 
paths. In the daytime they were entirely concealed in vil- 
lages and woods. At night they moved on foot and not in 
trains, so that balloon observers and others accustomed to 
spotting the movement of trains would be baffled in their 
attempts to analyze the situation. Furthermore, no effort was 
made to prevent Allied aerial reconnaissance in the daytime 
as had usually been the case in regions where large bodies 
of troops were concentrating. Finally, the shock troops, whose 
movements it is to be presumed were kept under peculiar 
surveillance by Allied spies, and who were in villages fifty 
miles behind the lines the day before the attack, were put 
in motor trucks at the last possible moment and moved from 
their rest billets directly into the front line trenches on the 
night of the attack. In fact, it was said that they got out of 
the trucks and rushed immediately into action. 

In the great drive which ended at the bridge of Chateau- 
Thierry we heard that the French General in command 
of that sector of the line had learned of the attack which 
was to demolish him, only two or three hours before it 
was upon him. He barely had time to bring up his reserves. 
His whole army was crushed by a single blow. The Huns 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 111 

merely had to march along comfortably for the next two 
or three days, capturing an enormous amount of material, 
including several hundred hangars and a large number of 
the latest French airplanes. 

To prevent a repetition of this complete surprise, Mar- 
shal Foch developed aerial night reconnaissance. His planes, 
equipped with lights and flares, were instructed to fly very 
low over the roads — so low, in fact, that they could closely 
observe the movement of troops and estimate the character 
and extent of this movement. The German General Staff 
was not able to devise any efficient means of stopping this 
night reconnaissance. Accordingly, when the time came in 
the middle of June for the next great Hun push which was 
to have captured Paris and the munitions and airplane fac- 
tories, Marshal Foch knew just exactly where, and when, 
it was coming. He made his own plans accordingly, and 
started a gigantic offensive on his own account at the very 
same sector of the line, and a few minutes before the Ger- 
mans were ready to begin theirs. As a result, on July 18 
the tide turned and France was saved. All honor to those 
brave French pilots who, in the face of extraordinary diffi- 
culties and unknown dangers, were the first to develop suc- 
cessfully aerial night reconnaissance. 

My only experience at the Front was on a tour of inspec- 
tion while Chief of Personnel in the latter part of July, when 
it was my good fortune to be permitted to see our squad- 
rons and balloon companies in operation in the Chateau- 
Thierry sector on July 23 and 24. The Second Balloon 



112 AN EXPLORER 

Company was only two or three miles from the retreating 
Germans at that time, and had been severely shelled a few 
hours before my visit. One of the shells, a six-inch projectile, 
had passed through the peak of a shelter tent, exploded in 
the rocky hillside immediately in front of the tent, and de- 
stroyed the tent and the tree behind it, without in the least 
injuring the lanky sergeant who had been resting within, 
his feet only a few inches from where the shell struck. 

I had the opportunity of going with Captain Philip J. 
Roosevelt over the battlefields of the preceding two or three 
days near Belleau Wood and Vaux, where the dead were 
still lying as they had fallen, and where one could not fail 
to be impressed with the enormous waste of men and ma- 
terial which spells the modern battlefield. It was amazing 
to see the thousands of hand grenades and hundreds of 
thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition that had 
been left on the field without being used. 

The thing that surprised me most and which we in the 
rear had heard least about was the large number of bal- 
loons that were being used for artillery observation. One 
could judge very easily the approximate position of the lines 
by the balloons. In the early days of the war the reconnais- 
sance airplane, using a small radio set, rapidly developed 
great efficiency in regulating artillery fire. The old type of 
spherical balloons bobbed about in the air to such an extent 
that the observer in the basket was frequently made most 
uncomfortable. The new type of kite balloons, invented and 
developed during the war, provided a far more suitable plat- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 113 

form for the observer than anything that had previously 
gone up in the air. The harder the wind blew, the steadier 
rode the balloon at the end of its cable. By perfecting the 
hauling-down mechanism it was possible, when the bal- 
loon was attacked, to bring it safely to its nest faster than 
the fastest passenger elevator descends. 

In the mean time, the Germans had learned how to make 
artillery observation from an airplane very difficult by means 
of improved anti-aircraft fire, and very unsatisfactory by 
using powerful radio to counteract the radio messages sent 
out by the reconnaissance planes. Consequently, the balloon 
observer was at a great advantage over the airplane observer. 
The balloon observer could talk by means of a telephone 
whose wire ran down through the cable that held the bal- 
loon, and could communicate most satisfactorily with the 
artillery commander without any danger of having his line 
cut by the Germans except when an attack by their air- 
planes caused his hydrogen-inflated balloon to burn up and 
necessitated his seeking safety in a parachute descent. Not- 
withstanding the danger of being shot down and the un- 
pleasant features of the parachute, only one man was killed 
on the Western Front in a parachute descent, and this acci- 
dent was caused by the parachute catching fire from the 
burning balloon. 

Had we been able to inflate our balloons with helium, a 
quantity of which was already on the docks when the Ar- 
mistice was signed, there would have been no danger from 
fire, for helium is non-explosive and non-inflammable. Had 



114 AN EXPLORER 

we been able to perfect helium-filled balloons with numer- 
ous compartments, it would have been extremely difficult 
for the Germans to have shot our balloons down. In the 
future, this should greatly change the whole process of 
artillery observation. It will also affect warfare in another 
way. The Zeppelin raids over London were given up be- 
cause it was so easy for an airplane, by firing a few shots, 
to bring down the expensive dirigible in flames. The use of 
helium and of a gas container made up of many sections 
will make the rigid dirigible a very potent factor in bombing 
raids. 

My few hours at the Front not only convinced me of the 
great value of lighter-than-air ships for certain important 
purposes; it also made me realize more than ever the neces- 
sity for close and constant cooperation between the Training 
Schools and the Front. Hostility due to failure to under- 
stand conditions and inability to appreciate the point of 
view of the hard-working pilot at the other end caused 
mutual suspicion and unfriendliness. There should have 
been more rotation of the flying personnel. Those at the 
Front naturally are sure they know best what it is they 
want. Those at the schools in the rear, conscious of their 
own keen desire to go to the Front and to risk all that any 
one is risking, but compelled by force of circumstances to 
miss the thrill of actual combat, are obliged to take what 
satisfaction they can in developing what they think is the best 
system of training. Each mistrusts the other. 

One of the most serious faults of our conduct of the war 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 115 

— so far as the Air Service went — was the unwillingness 
of those in command to allow highly efficient officers to be 
transferred from front to rear and vice versa; from France 
to America, and from America to France. We were grad- 
ually coming to this in the autumn of 1918. It is only a pity 
we did not adopt that policy earlier. I saw men at schools 
who were stale. I saw men at the Front who were stale. It 
should be remembered that no matter how good or how im- 
portant a man is, he is likely to get into a rut and become 
stale if he is kept too long working at one job under the 
high pressure of actual war conditions. His efficiency will be 
increased and the whole service will be improved if he is not 
kept too many months at a very interesting or highly im- 
portant piece of work. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE THIRD AVIATION INSTRUCTION CENTRE 

IN August another reorganization of the Air Service took 
place. More activities were centred in Paris, and the or- 
ganization of squadrons was taken out of the hands of the 
Chief of Personnel. General Patrick at the same time had 
pity on the woes of an explorer who had been tied for many 
months to office work and sent him to Issoudun to take com- 
mand of his largest flying school. 

All the American flying schools in France were at that 
time (August 23, 1918) under the immediate direction of 
Colonel Walter G. Kilner, Chief of Training for the Chief 
of Air Service. Colonel Kilner was the best Chief that anyone 
in the Air Service could ask to have. A graduate of West 
Point and of the aviation school at San Diego, he had served 
on the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, had had interest- 
ing experiences with Mexican bandits and old-fashioned 
"ships," was in command at Mineola when I took my tests 
as a Reserve Military Aviator, and had gone overseas with 
General Foulois. He had shown extraordinary ability at Is- 
soudun in bringing order out of chaos during the winter 
of 1917-18. He had taken the school at a time when it is 
said that General Pershing had called it "the worst mud- 
hole in France," and in five months had made it "the most 
comfortable camp in the A. E. F." His military education, 
his technical training, his ability as a pilot, and his skill as 
an administrator made him an ideal Chief of Training. He 
was later decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal. 




Mat) of the Third t 



rAUt 



i 



ni'omeTers 

e. i g '/*■ i 

•Scale E lrf^.W.I^ B H B 

o i 

Miles 



Numbers refer to Flying Fields 




IN THE AIR SERVICE 117 

The First Aviation Instruction Centre established near 
Paris had early been abandoned, possibly because it was 
too near Paris. The Second Aviation Instruction Centre was 
built up from the old French airdrome and flying school 
on the plateau across the river at Tours. It was gradually 
enlarged to meet the needs of the American service, and 
for a long time was the principal place for the preliminary 
training of flying cadets. For this purpose it was equipped 
with the old-fashioned Caudrons. Later on it was developed 
entirely as a school for training aerial observers, and as such 
was most successful under the very competent direction of 
Lieutenant-Colonel S. W. Fitzgerald. 

The story of Issoudun, where the Third Aviation Instruc- 
tion Centre was located, is one full of lights and shadows. 
Located on the arid plains between the villages of Vatan 
and Lizaray, the camp was some seven miles west of the 
historic town of Issoudun, made famous by Balzac. It was 
right in the heart of France, about twenty-five miles north of 
Chateauroux, about sixty -five miles due south of Orleans, 
and twenty-five miles west of Bourges. It was not far from 
two of the largest American supply depots, Gievres and 
Romorantin. The land was of clay mixed with small shaly 
rocks. The soil was so poor that villages and farmhouses 
were relatively few and far between. This gave the large 
open spaces necessary for the flying fields; but the ground 
was so impervious to water that it did not dry readily and 
was frightfully muddy for months at a time. In order to 
reach the selected location, an American railroad nine miles 



118 AN EXPLORER 

in length was built to connect with the French lines near 
the town of Issoudun. 

The "Third A. I. C," as our post was usually called, 
consisted of a main camp containing headquarters, hospi- 
tals, instruction barracks, quartermaster stores, aero supply 
warehouses, repair shops, sleeping quarters for about 4000 
men, and an assembly and test field ; and within a radius 
of five miles a dozen other fields, covering all together about 
fifty square miles of French territory. We had over a thou- 
sand airplanes and could accommodate about the same 
number of students. There were nearly 5000 enlisted men 
on duty, a number which was soon increased until there were 
all together about 8000 persons, including officers, men, 
Chinese laborers, and German prisoners, occupied in keep- 
ing this school in operation. Our function was to take avi- 
ators who had received their preliminary flying training else- 
where and give them advanced and special training, thereby 
fitting them to become pursuit, observation, or ferry pilots, 
as the needs of the war and the abilities of the pilots might 
indicate. More than 2000 pilots were graduated here. 

One's first impressions of Issoudun depended entirely on 
how one approached it. To the enlisted mechanic of a squad- 
ron arriving at night after a long and tiresome journey in 
a freight car, it must have seemed like getting into any other 
American camp where there was plenty of mud under foot, 
a group of rough board barracks all around, and the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that total ignorance of French was not going 
to spoil the comfort of his billet. On the next day, or rather 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 119 

the next Sunday afternoon, when he found that he was many 
miles from an interesting town, it was not so amusing. 

It was my good fortune to see Issoudun first from an 
elevation of about ten thousand feet. In May, Major Spatz, 
then Commanding Officer, had kindly flown me over from 
Tours. Fortunately, I did not know that he had recently 
been the victim of two bad accidents and had crashed two 
machines in succession on landing. Otherwise, I might not 
have taken such pleasure in my ride ! Seated for the first 
time in my life in the front seat of a small Nieuport, I 
greatly enjoyed my first cross-country view of France from 
the air. After passing for some distance up the lovely valley 
of the Cher and over some extensive wooded areas, we came 
at last in view of widespreading plains. As we drew nearer 
I made out little groups of hangars here and there, and 
finally realized that an interesting gray patch, colored some- 
what differently from the surrounding plain, was a group of 
buildings that included the main barracks, shops, and head- 
quarters of the Third Aviation Instruction Centre. 

It was always a pleasure to take a visitor up and show 
him our camps and fields from an airplane, for it was by far 
the easiest way to give him an adequate idea of the extent 
of our plant and the admirable way in which Colonel Kilner 
and his assistants had laid out the fields so as to utilize all 
the available air space within easy reach of the main repair 
shops. For this reason we were keenly disappointed when 
Assistant Secretary of War John D. Ryan, then in charge 
of the Army Air Service, arrived on his first and only tour of 



120 AN EXPLORER 

inspection, and declined to go up. We had arranged to have 
a very comfortable DH-4 prepared and ready for this pur- 
pose, and had detailed to it the most experienced and con- 
servative pilot on the post. We hoped that Mr. Ryan would 
thus get a comprehensive idea of his largest flying school. 
I remember that he gave as his reason for not caring to go 
up that he had made the rule that civilians must not be 
taken up in army planes, and he felt that he ought not to 
break his own rules ! 

It was also a keen disappointment to be visited at night 
by one of the most influential members of the Senate Mili- 
tary Affairs Committee. He arrived after dark, and left be- 
fore midnight. There were so many things that one would 
like to have had him see and personally understand! Of 
course, there were many other places in France which needed 
his attention worse than ours did, but that did not allay our 
dissatisfaction with his nocturnal tour of inspection. 

To the visiting officer who came into our camp by motor 
car there was nothing very comprehensive or picturesque. 
It was not nearly as striking as the average military camp 
in the United States, nor one-quarter as impressive as the 
splendid aviation fields at home. Aviators arriving from El- 
lington Field or Dayton were rarely enthusiastic about it. It 
had grown from very small beginnings, and had been built 
of whatever materials Colonel Kilner could get hold of. The 
barracks were of various sizes and kinds. The shops were 
of different vintages. The hangars were a medley of canvas, 
steel, and imitation concrete. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 121 

The first sign that caught the eye on entering from the 
highway was Police, Prison and Labor Officer. The fact 
that a few minutes later one found one's self on the corner 
of "Broadway" and "Fifth Avenue "only partially alleviated 
the shock one had received from the sign at the entrance. 
We tried to be neat and soldierly. So we were greatly 
pleased when a visiting Brigadier-General of Cavalry told 
us that our men saluted more snappily than those in any 
camp he had visited in France. And we tried to be as effi- 
cient as possible, but we had no time to go in for handsome 
outward appearances, and the original plans had not con- 
templated thrilling the natives by any display. Nevertheless, 
when we really managed to get a visiting officer up in the 
air, it was a pleasure to see the surprise and satisfaction 
on his face as he looked around over fifty square miles of 
territory and noted the evidences of American energy and 
enterprise. 

So far as I know, the only General Officer ever to arrive 
at Issoudun by airplane was General Harbord, when he 
was in command of the Services of Supply. He came down 
from Tours one day on a short tour of inspection and was 
piloted by Colonel Kilner, then Chief of Training. General 
Harbord took a keen interest in aviation and sent the follow- 
ing paragraph about ourpilots to the editor of the Plane News, 
our local paper : 

In War, as it is being waged on the Western Front, the heir of the 
Knights of other days is the pilot of the pursuit plane. The fighting 
pilot, like the Knights of old, goes forth to individual combat, where 



122 AN EXPLORER 

two may meet but one alone depart. The greatest of Knights were the 
finest men, and let America's crusaders ever uphold this tradition — 
chivalrous, clean and fearlessly fighting until we wipe from the earth 
this scourge of German Kultur. 

Colonel Kilner made us frequent visits by air, and enor- 
mously increased the enthusiasm of the pilots for Air Ser- 
vice management by his own personal enthusiasm for fly- 
ing and fearlessness in travelling about France wherever he 
needed to go by air instead of by road. He had had several 
crashes in his career, both in Mexico and California, as well 
as in France, and he was thoroughly familiar with the psy- 
chology of discomfort following a bad crash, but this never 
induced him to accept the excuse of being "too busy" to fly, 
or of claiming that it was so important that he reach a given 
point on time that he could not afford to take the risks of 
aerial transportation. I know from personal experience after 
two bad crashes how easy it is to accept the belief that one 
is not feeling well enough to fly. Everybody knows that one 
ought not to fly except when feeling well ! 

In administrating the Third Aviation Instruction Centre 
I followed the general principle of giving the heads of de- 
partments, and in particular the Commanding Officers of 
the outlying fields, the fullest measure of responsibility, ex- 
pecting certain results, but not directing the details or the 
methods by which these results were to be achieved. Where 
results did not materialize, where inspection disclosed un- 
satisfactory conditions, where criticism did not bear fruit, 
the responsible heads were quickly removed and the best 






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IN THE AIR SERVICE 123 

men available put in their places. On the other hand, where 
results were satisfactory, encouragement was given to those 
who were responsible for the results, their recommendations 
for promotion were almost invariably accepted, approved, 
and forwarded, and their wishes and desires were given the 
utmost possible consideration. 

Every day at noon there met with me my chief assist- 
ants, including the Post Executive Officer, the Post Adjutant, 
the Chief Aeronautical Engineer, the Construction and 
Maintenance Officer, the Officer in Charge of Flying, the 
Chairman of the Medical Research Board, the Commanding 
Officer of the Hospital, the Post Quartermaster, the Com- 
manding Officer of Student Officers, Commanding Officers 
of outlying fields, the Liaison Officer, the Police, Prison and 
Labor Officer, the Post Disbursing Officer, the Personnel Offi- 
cer, and the Officer in charge of Aerial Gunnery. At this 
meeting every one had a chance to report progress, to air his 
grievances, and to become familiar with the successes and 
failures of the others. 

Special stress was laid on the fact that my staff officers, 
visiting outlying fields and speaking in the name of the Post 
Commander, must give their instructions through the Com- 
manding Officer of the outlying field, who was personally 
responsible to the Post Commander in the same compre- 
hensive manner that the Post Commander was responsible 
to the Chief of Training at Headquarters. This method of 
administrating a post that included nearly 6000 enlisted men, 
450 German prisoners, 250 Chinese coolies, and from 1 100 



124 AN EXPLORER 

to 1400 officers, most of them student officers, proved to be 
satisfactory. The Inspector-General, in his report to the Com- 
manding Genera], S. O. S., dated November 26, 19 18, on the 
subject of his inspection of the Third Aviation Instruction 
Centre, took occasion to commend the Post Commander "for 
the efficient condition of this Centre." 

He also spoke of the competition between the fields which 
was used to maintain a high standard of efficiency and said, 
"A spirit of friendly rivalry exists which has kept up the in- 
terest of the personnel since the signing of the Armistice." 
President Lowell of Harvard University once published in 
the Atlantic Monthly an article on the importance of com- 
petition as a stimulant for undergraduate activities, both 
physical and mental. Ever since reading it I have been a sin- 
cere believer in the value of competition as a spur to high 
endeavor. 

The nature of the Nieuport plane, which was the only 
one available in large quantities for training purposes, was 
such as to require a graded course, as will be described in 
another chapter. It was not an ideal course, but was, I be- 
lieve, the best that could be devised in view of the equipment 
available. However, the principle of having a large number 
of small fields under semi-independent commands, each 
using two or three hundred enlisted men, and doing a cer- 
tain amount of repairing, and using the main field for as- 
sembly and rebuilding and for the principal warehouse, 
hospital, quartermaster, etc., worked out extremely well. 

These fields were generally about two miles apart, so that 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 125 

the air was not crowded even when there were several hun- 
dred planes in commission and a thousand students being 
taught. Daily meetings of the Commanding Officers of the 
fields, frequent meetings of Engineer Officers, Officers in 
Charge of Flying, and Supply Officers enabled proper co- 
ordination to take place and homogeneous planning to be 
carried out. I believe that the ideal aviation training cen- 
tre consists of a central plant easily reached by road and 
air, and a dozen surrounding fields where preliminary, ad- 
vanced, and specialized flying and aerial gunnery are taught. 
My duties at Headquarters were greatly facilitated by 
the skill and long army experience of Captain Lester Cum- 
mings, who was my first Adjutant, and who later took 
charge of preparing squadrons for departure. My second 
Adjutant was Captain William V. Saxe, whose success was 
due to his unselfish zeal for whatever work was assigned 
him, combined with unusual charm of manner and unfailing 
courtesy. It was most fortunate for me that Major Tom G. 
Lanphier, a veteran of Chateau-Thierry, was completing 
his flying training just as I arrived. His ability to command 
had been evident on the Aquitania, where I had been im- 
pressed by the way he handled the troops at life-boat drill. 
His familiarity with the workings of every field on the post, 
his skill as a pilot, and his loyalty made him an ideal Execu- 
tive Officer. He afterwards took command of the post. 



CHAPTER XII 

TRAINING AVIATORS 

THE plan for Issoudun was that it should be used 
chiefly as a place where pilots already fully trained in 
the United States should have a "refresher course" before 
being sent to the Front. Due to the lack of advanced training 
planes in the United States and the fact that it was practically 
impossible during the continuance of the war for our pilots 
to do much more than get their preliminary training and 
"acquire their wings" before coming to France, it became 
necessary to develop at Issoudun a complete course in ad- 
vanced flying and in aerial tactics. This was also made ne- 
cessary because so many hundreds of cadets had been sent 
to France without any flying training at all, and could secure 
only preliminary instruction at the French schools or at our 
own Second Aviation Instruction Centre at Tours. 

The history of the Training Department shows a mar- 
vellous growth. For its details I am indebted to Lieutenant 
Thomas Ward, who had been a member of the celebrated 
First Reserve Aero Squadron, and whose knowledge of the 
complete story of Issoudun was second to none. Very little 
flying was done in the fall of 1917, but in December the 
records show 1117 hours of flying for the month, which 
was increased in January to 2812 ; February, 34 14 ; March, 
4205 ; April, 7392. There was a slight falling off in May and 
June, due to various causes, chiefly the great difficulty of 
keeping the Nieu ports in commission during the warm, wind- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 127 

less days of the late spring. In July the flying time increased 
to 9.350 hours ; in August to 12,510 ; falling oflfin September 
to 9562, but under the very able leadership of Captain H. C. 
Ferguson breaking all records in October with a total of 
17,1 13 hours for the month. In November, after the Armis- 
tice was signed, the pressure let down and we flew only 
10,041 hours. Captain Ferguson, first as Commanding Offi- 
cer of Field 5 and later as Officer in Charge of Flying, showed 
remarkable ability, determination, and initiative. 

In October and November, 1917, there had been a great 
deal of wet weather, and the clay-covered fields of Issoudun 
were converted into oceans of mud. Attempts to fly caused 
much breakage of propellers until Captain Rickenbacker, 
who acted as Engineer Officer and was the first student 
graduated from the school, invented a mudguard which 
prevented the wheels from throwing mud and stones directly 
into the propeller. Incidentally, it was quite appropriate 
that the first graduate of Issoudun should later become the 
leading American ace. 

It may be interesting to note at this point that another 
well-known ace, Captain Douglas Campbell, was the first 
Assistant Officer in Charge of Training here. The fifth to 
graduate was Captain Hamilton Coolidge, who had a splen- 
did record at the Front with eight Huns to his credit when 
he was killed by a direct hit from an anti-aircraft gun. 
The seventh graduate was Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, 
who was at one time Post Quartermaster, Supply Officer, 
and Transportation Officer, and after he had completed his 



128 AN EXPLORER 

training, took charge of training at Field 7. He had his 
father's wonderful courage and fine enthusiasm. 

At the beginning no definite course of instruction was 
laid out. Most of the teachers were French pilots, who nat- 
urally used the ideas then in vogue at the French schools 
which they had attended. Their methods were better 
adapted for French than American aviators. The course at 
Issoudun was not thought out on paper beforehand by a the- 
orist, but was gradually evolved under the most strenuous 
conditions imaginable and contained ideas derived from a 
very considerable number of the best American pilots in 
France. With a true sense of the importance of having the 
best possible teachers and a keen realization of the old adage 
that "a stream cannot rise higher than its source," it was 
early determined to retain only the very best American 
pilots for teachers and instructors. Each man that went 
through the school was jealously watched by those in 
charge of the work at the different fields, and if they saw 
unusual qualities in him, he was promptly requisitioned 
as a member of the staff. Of course this was very hard on 
the individual. Occasionally it worked backward. In one 
case an unusually good pilot, knowing that he was being 
selected as a teacher, deliberately broke the flying rules on 
the last day of his course in order to spoil his record. He 
knew that we would not want a man for a teacher who had 
a bad record in the school, and he thought that he would 
be sent to the Front if he was not good enough for a teacher. 
He was promptly assigned to an unattractive ground job. 



J> 










IN THE AIR SERVICE 129 

Men who did not obey the rules were not wanted at the 
Front. 

With true American devotion to high ideals, the great 
majority of the first-class pilots selected as instructors cheer- 
fully gave up the chance of becoming aces themselves in 
order to perfect the output of the school and thus to help 
increase the total number of American aces at the Front. 
In order to prevent our self-sacrificing instructors from 
getting stale, a few were allowed to take turns in going to 
the Front for a month at a time. This gave them new ideas 
and new experiences. When they came back to the school 
they had the advantage in every case of having success- 
fully brought down one or more Huns. This increased their 
prestige with their students and let them feel that they had 
had their chance at a little real action. Occasionally, pilots 
who had been at the Front for six months or more and who 
were tired out were sent back to the school as teachers. Those 
who have been in the teaching profession know that a teacher 
who is tired is seldom very effective. These pilots were no 
exception to the general rule. Two or three of them were 
unusually good, but our experience with the majority led 
us to believe that the best instructors were not those who 
had become unfitted for duty at the Front, but those who had 
learned the importance of teaching and were glad to take 
advantage of a few weeks at the Front to increase their effi* 
ciency in the game for which they were preparing others. 

With such a splendid staff" as was gradually built up by 
following this policy, it was only necessary to show each man 



130 AN EXPLORER 

that his ideas would be welcomed and to allow him to put 
into practice his own theories of teaching in order to de- 
velop a very thorough course of study. Since it in no way 
rested on the ideas of a non-flying general staff, nor on the 
preconceived notions of one or two flying officers, nor on 
the arbitrary decision of a small group of outside experts, 
it was most flexible and was constantly undergoing change 
and improvement. 

The problem of training a pilot who had received his 
preliminary work on a slow flying Caudron was much more 
difficult than that of one who had been trained on a Curtiss 
JN-4 H. No man was kept back by reason of the awkward- 
ness of his fellow students. Every pilot was encouraged to go 
ahead as fast as possible, or rather as fast as our supply of 
the most advanced type of planes permitted. In the begin- 
ning of his course, however, it was necessary for the student 
to remain assigned to a section until he had completed the 
preliminary groundwork of aerial gunnery and motor in- 
struction and had passed through the course in Rouleurs on 
Field 1. 

At some of the French schools the Rouleurs were espe- 
pecially built "penguins," which were guaranteed not to fly. 
At Issoudun, however, we were accustomed to use what 
we could get. In this case the best thing available was a 
Morane monoplane from which the ailerons had been taken, 
and w T hich was equipped with a 40 to 50 H.P. Gnome motor. 

Many of the boys who had learned to fly in the States 
could not understand why they were put on non-flying 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 131 

Rouleurs before being sent up in the air. Some of them, in 
fact, managed to get by Field 1 without really learning 
what the work there had to teach them. Later they had to- 
be sent back from one of the advanced fields because they 
were unable to make proper use of the rudder when taking 
off, taxying,or landing. They were finally ready to admit that 
the rudders of small fast planes, designed for successful use 
in the air when travelling at more than one hundred and 
twenty miles an hour, are not large enough when the plane 
is going over the ground at only twenty -five to thirty miles 
an hour. The pilot must use his rudder very gently in the 
air, but very roughly on the ground. If he does not thoroughly 
understand handling the small rudder of the fast scout planes, 
it will be almost impossible for him to make them roll straight 
on the ground. Most of our advanced planes were short- 
bodied Nieuports equipped with rotary motors. As I have 
already said in speaking of the troubles of our cadets, the 
Nieuports were extremely fond of making a violent and un- 
expected turn on the ground — the cheval de bois. 

The lower left wing of the Nieuport has a slightly greater 
angle of incidence than the corresponding wing on the other 
side. This is in order to aid the pilot in overcoming the effect 
of the torque of the rotary motor. It causes the left wing to 
drag a bit, and this makes it more difficult to roll straight 
on the ground. This tendency is still further increased in 
landing on a field that is not quite level (and few French 
fields were really level). If in landing you happen to light on 
one wheel with greater force than on the other, the tendency 



132 AN EXPLORER 

of the Nieuport to turn abruptly and unexpectedly is very 
marked. It will readily be seen that it was very neces- 
sary for the student to understand thoroughly the use of a 
small rudder when operating on the ground. We found the 
cranky, non-flying "clipped" monoplanes very useful for 
this purpose. 

Students were also encouraged to study the action of the 
motor before starting on their first ride, and to keep the ap- 
plication of power as steady as possible, since the slip stream 
of air from the propeller acting on the rudder is the force 
that causes the latter to become effective. 

The student's first trip was straight across the field, 
towards a soldier who was stationed at the far end, whose 
duty it was to help him turn round and to start his motor 
in case he stalled it, as frequently happened. The student 
was not accompanied by a teacher in his wild ride. It was the 
duty of the teacher to watch carefully the cause of any diffi- 
culties and observe whether the student was avoiding trouble 
by going too slow, or was really learning to make proper 
use of the rudder. The second trip was made at a higher 
rate of speed, but with the control stick pulled well back 
and the tail held firmly on the ground. When the pilot had 
succeeded in making a good round trip with the tail skid 
helping to keep him straight by plowing through the field, 
he was told to get the tail off the ground for a few rods and 
then "make a landing." 

It was possible to run these "buses "at about forty miles an 
hour without having them leave the ground except by leaps 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 133 

and bounds, but unless one gave a sharp kick on the rud- 
der and then instantly brought it back to neutral at the 
psychological moment, the tendency to travel in anything 
but a straight line was made manifest. When the student 
started using the elevators in order to get the tail off the 
ground, he generally began to think less about the impor- 
tance of instantaneous action on the rudder. Or he forgot 
the small size of the field, and this spelled trouble. 

I never shall forget my fifth trip across the field, when, 
having acquired some confidence in my ability to keep the 
pesky thing on a straight line, I overran the limits of the 
somewhat restricted area, rolled into a ditch, and turned 
upside down. There were a number of rules posted on the 
bulletin board at this field, which every one was supposed 
to digest before taking his lessons. One was : "Do not over- 
shoot the field, as you will only crash and will not learn 
anything!" Obviously, students occasionally forgot this 
rule. 

Another was: "Never raise the tail of a machine unless 
told to do so by an instructor, and then only when coming 
into the wind — never with the wind." This rule was oc- 
casionally disregarded by high-ranking pilots from the reg- 
ular army who scorned to listen to the instructor, and who, 
consequently, caused extensive repairs to be made to the 
unfortunate Rouleurs. The students' confidence in their 
ability to taxy at a rapid rate was considerably lessened by 
the number of accidents — not serious, although quite humil- 
iating — which they saw while awaiting their turn. It was 



134 AN EXPLORER 

not uncommon for several of these queer looking birds to be 
flat on their backs at the same time. 

After having satisfied the instructors at Field 1 of their 
ability to use the rudder, the students walked over to Field 
2, where dual control machines, operated by experienced in- 
structors, were ready to give them their first experience in 
actual flying in France. On this field we used the 23 -meter 
Nieuport. That is to say, the total wing surface was 23 
square meters. To one accustomed to the Curtiss JN-4, the 
very small lower wings and the absence of perpendicular 
struts made the ship seem quite fragile. 

The 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor used on these machines 
had a comparatively short life — forty hours being consid- 
ered a good average. Once the student learned to handle it, 
however, he became very fond of this light and relatively 
quiet French engine. Three or four Le Rhones acting to- 
gether did not make as much noise as a single Liberty motor; 
nor, it should be added, did they produce as much power. 

To one accustomed to the American stationary internal 
combustion motor, like the Curtiss OX, the operation of the 
French throttle required study and practice. The throttle 
consists of two levers called " manettes." The motor is fitted 
with an external mixing chamber or carburetor, the mixed 
gasoline and air being sucked in through the inlet valve. 
By opening the small manette, the flow of gas to the jet is 
regulated. The large manette is actually the throttle con- 
trolling the mixture of gas and air. It was very important 
for the student to understand the use of both manettes. 




Field 2: Instructor and Student starting on a lesson 




Field 2: Nieuport 81, 23-meter, 80 IIP. le Rhone motor 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 135 

He also had to learn to keep his left hand constantly on them 
while flying. It finally became second nature to him to keep 
adjusting them so as to make his motor run smoothly. His 
reaction to "skipping" or "popping" came to be immediate 
and instantaneous. 

We tried to teach the operation of the manettes as thor- 
oughly as possible before the student went to Field 1. While 
there our students got practice in keeping the left hand 
always on the throttle to prevent its slipping and thereby 
changing the speed of the propeller. American trained stu- 
dents, having learned to rely on the Zenith carburetor of the 
Curtiss engine, found it difficult to learn that the manettes 
needed constant attention. Furthermore, students from the 
United States, where the throttle is usually on the right- 
hand side and where the importance of using the French 
type of switch for the magneto had not been emphasized, 
found it useful to familiarize themselves with those pecul- 
iarities while still on the exciting Rouleurs. Yet it was diffi- 
cult to tell whether the student had really taken it all in until 
he began to fly in the dual control machines. As a matter of 
fact, many of the students had to be instructed all over 
again on a motor located for this purpose back of one of 
the hangars on Field 2. 

Even the instructors, however, did not always agree as 
to the best method of operating the manettes ! In order to 
enable their discussions to be thoroughly understood by all 
parties, a special set of manettes was fastened to the fire- 
place in the attractive club-room which had been con- 



136 AN EXPLORER 

structed for the use of instructors on this field by Captain 
T. C. Knight, the Commanding Officer of Fields 1 and 2, 
who was particularly successful in working out the various 
problems that arose on these fields. 

The length of time which a student had to spend on 
Field 2 depended entirely on himself and his ability to learn 
rapidly and to demonstrate his efficiency not only to the in- 
structor to whom he was assigned, but also to another first- 
class pilot known as the tester, who gave him his final 
examination. If he failed to satisfy the tester that he had 
mastered the intricacies of flying the 23-meter Nieuport, 
he was sent back to his instructor for further lessons. 
Each instructor was allowed to follow his own ideas to 
a very considerable extent, although all were obliged to ride 
in the front seat. Some used the telephone and some found 
that the students did better when left alone, and when they 
were not trying to listen to the telephone and "feel" the 
ship at the same time. 

The 23-meter Nieuport is not very stable in the air, and 
if the pilot tries to climb too rapidly or fails to nose down 
when he develops motor trouble, the plane quickly stalls 
and falls sideways, generally going into a spin. If this oc- 
curs near the ground, the result is disastrous ; if at an ele- 
vation of six or seven hundred meters, it is generally pos- 
sible to come out of the spin before reaching the ground. 

Since most of our students had received their prelimi- 
nary training with a stationary motor, they found it difficult 
to understand the gyroscopic action of the rotary motor, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 137 

which inclines to pull the nose of the plane down into a 
spin if it is not held level on a turn. In flying the JN-4 we 
used to be told to nose down on the turns so as to avoid 
losing flying speed. This tendency of the Curtiss trained 
pilots had to be overcome before it was safe to let them fly 
with a rotary motor. American trained pilots were also in- 
clined to fly with too little rudder. I remember receiving a 
striking lesson from the Chief Instructor at San Diego, who 
was sure I used my rudder too much and consequently 
made me fly about the field with my feet actually off the 
rudder bar, guiding the machine solely by use of the aile- 
rons. One cannot do that with the Nieuport 23. It requires 
the use of the rudder at all times. Furthermore, the rotary 
motor makes the technique of a right-hand turn quite differ- 
ent from that of a left-hand turn. 

I mention these matters in some detail because many 
people found it difficult to understand why, after a pilot 
had earned his wings in the United States, it was neces- 
sary to give him instruction in a dual control machine in 
France. At times considerable pressure was brought to bear 
upon us to let the American trained pilots go directly into 
the fastest and smallest scout planes without giving them 
the instruction just described. We felt that this would be in 
some cases inexcusable homicide. On the other hand, some 
of the men who were "born pilots" needed less than an 
hour's instruction on Fields 1 and 2 before they were able 
to go on to Field 3. 

After the pilot had satisfied the instructor and the tester 



138 AN EXPLORER 

that he could take his Nieuport off the ground in the de- 
sired direction without having it turn away from the wind, 
that he knew how to climb on his first turn, throttle his 
motor down so as to secure maximum efficiency in level 
flight, make his turns without losing any elevation, avoid 
"skidding" (caused by too much rudder and too little bank), 
avoid "slipping" (caused by too little rudder and too much 
bank), make "three-point landings" with the wheels and 
the tail skid hitting at the same moment, and, by the proper 
use of his rudder, overcome the tendency of the Nieu- 
port to "cheval," he was given a card that admitted him to 
Field 3. 

At Field 3 he found a 23 -meter Nieuport not fitted with 
dual controls, but intended for solo flying. The absence of 
the instructor in the front seat not only made the machine 
lighter and enabled it to leave the ground more quickly 
and climb faster, but also had a psychological effect in mak- 
ing the pilot realize that he had no one but himself to de- 
pend upon. This ship is an excellent machine to use in 
carrying single passengers and landing in small fields. It 
does not glide far, and therefore does not cause the embar- 
rassments that occur when using the DH-4. However, it has 
a very considerable tendency to make violent turns while 
gaining flying speed and before leaving the ground. Fur- 
thermore, it is not easy to keep it rolling smoothly in a straight 
line when you land. Nevertheless, after overcoming the ef- 
fects of two bad crashes in this cranky little ship, I became 
very fond of it personally and used it almost entirely when 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 139 

inspecting from the air during the last three months of my 
stay in France, although I should have preferred an Avro. 

The work at Field 3 consisted in making the student as 
familiar as possible with the Nieuport 23 and giving him 
plenty of confidence. He was required to make a sufficient 
number of landings to overcome his dread of unexpected 
turns. His air work was carefully watched to make sure 
that he was equally good on both left-hand and right-hand 
turns. He was required to make spiral turns of more than 
45° to determine whether he was able to use his elevators as 
a rudder and his rudders as an elevator when banking over 
to that extent. 

His instruction in cross-country flying depended to a cer- 
tain extent on what kind of planes we had. At various times 
the 15-meter Nieuport, the 18-meter, and the 23-meter were 
used for this purpose, depending on the number of ships in 
commission. The course was designed to familiarize the 
pilot with the difference between flying over France and fly in g 
over the United States. Most of our fields in America were so 
located that any one with average intelligence could find his 
way back to the field without the use of a map or, if required 
to use a map, would be left in no doubt whatever as to his 
whereabouts. In France, however, with its large number of 
small towns and villages that looked very much alike from the 
air, its great number of straight, white roads leading in 
every direction, its crazy-quilt design of small cultivated 
fields, bewildering in their similarity and complexity, the 
chance of getting lost in the air even while using one of the 



140 AN EXPLORER 

excellent French maps was very considerable. The shape 
of the forested areas was the most important thing to learn. 
Our pilots were fond of telling the story of a champion cross- 
country flyer from the United States who had never had 
any difficulty with map reading and who scoffed at the idea 
that it was necessary for him to learn anything additional 
in this subject at Issoudun, getting totally lost on his first 
cross-country flight. He flew until obliged to land because 
he was out of gas. He finally had to telephone from some 
distant point to have somebody come and rescue him. In 
the United States he had flown by roads and large rivers. 
In France there were too many of the first and too few of 
the second. 

In addition to this cross-country work at Field 3, students 
were given an hour or so with an acrobacy instructor in one 
of our few Avros. The student was put into all sorts of 
strange positions in the air to test his air sense, to give him 
confidence in the ability of a plane to right itself when cer- 
tain definite rules were followed, and to determine whether 
there was anything radically wrong with his power to over- 
come dizziness and keep his head level under trying circum- 
stances. If the instructor found a pilot deficient at this point, 
he was sent over to the hospital to consult the Medical 
Research Board. Advanced physical tests sometimes showed 
that the pilot was not fully competent and should never 
have been passed for training as an aviator. 

While undergoing their instruction in motors and in the 
work on Fields 1, 2, and 3, the pilots lived in the Main Bar- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 141 

racks, near the Guard House. After graduating successfully 
from Field 3, they were sent over to Field 9, several miles 
to the westward, for further instruction. This field, under 
the careful oversight of Lieutenant Molthan and Captain 
Oliver, was equipped with 18-meter Nieuports, that is, the 
wings measured 18 square meters in area. In 1915 and 1916 
this machine had been very popular at the Front. It was 
faster than the 23-meter, but was less able to glide slowly 
and therefore had to be landed at a higher speed and required 
more skilful handling. The general appearance was similar, 
although the upper wings were smaller. The struts of the 
23-meter have an outward slope, while those of the 1 8-meter 
are vertical. While the 23-meter was far more delicate to 
handle than the JN-4 or the Caudron, the 18-meter was 
still more so. The motor was the same as that used in the 
2 3 -meter. 

Since these ships were not adapted to taking up passen- 
gers, all instruction had to be given from the ground. It in- 
cluded lectures, partly in the nature of repetition in regard 
to the use of the rotary motor, partly in regard to field re- 
quirements and traffic signals, and as to the necessity of keep- 
ing in good physical condition. The work on the flying field 
was divided into three parts: a landing class in which the 
student received opportunity to make from ten to thirty land- 
ings; a spiral class in which he made all kinds of turns, in- 
cluding what are known as "tight spirals" where the wings 
are practically at an angle of 90° for part of the turn, and an 
air work class. The instructors watched the students through 



142 AN EXPLORER 

field-glasses, and later explained to them the nature of their 
mistakes. If it was found that a student did not readily ac- 
custom himself to the more delicate and speedier type of 
ship, he was advised to go in for reconnaissance or bombing 
piloting rather than to continue the course in pursuit and 
combat flying. 

Just as certain athletes are more skilful as acrobats and 
gymnasts than others, so some pilots seem to be better 
adapted for the more spectacular though no more useful 
work of pursuit and combat. Due to its exciting character, 
we found great difficulty in persuading young pilots to aban- 
don their ambitions and learn to be good reconnaissance 
pilots. It requires great skill, unusual courage, and plenty 
of gray matter to make a good reconnaissance pilot, but it 
is not necessary that one should be a first-class acrobat. It 
makes less of an appeal to the average boy. 

As a result of the air work and spiral class on Field 9, 
the men who showed less ability in rapid and delicate ma- 
noeuvre as acrobats were taken out and sent over to Field 
10, which was equipped with DH-4 planes and where a 
special course was arranged to train pilots for observation 
squadrons. Those pilots who satisfied their instructor of their 
ability as acrobats, however, passed from Field 9 to Fields 4, 
5, and 6, and took up their lodgings at Field 5. 



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CHAPTER XIII 

ADVANCED TRAINING FOR PURSUIT PILOTS 

IT is not my intention in this chapter to furnish a manual 
whereby a pilot can learn to do stunts or become a good 
military aviator. On the contrary, since the science of avia- 
tion is so very new and the art of flying has been practised 
for so few years and aerial tactics are scarcely more than 
a few months old, the object of setting down these details 
is historical rather than practical. Many of the pilots that 
went through the course will probably find that at the time 
they went through things were not exactly as set down here. 
I have tried to portray the system as it was at the time the 
Armistice was signed. A few years from now, many of these 
manoeuvres and formations will undoubtedly seem very 
crude and extraordinary. The pilots who are born this year 
will look upon us, who strove to the best of our ability to 
give the most advanced course of flying in the world, as 
foolish old idiots. At the same time, some of them may be 
glad to see how we did it, and their fathers may be glad to 
be reminded of how it was done in November, 1918. 

Fields 4, 5, and 6 were under the very competent direc- 
tion of Captain St. Clair Street, a most conscientious and 
successful commander. These fields were equipped with the 
15-meter Nieuport, using the same motor as the 18-meter 
and the 23-meter. While not quite as small as the Baby 
Nieuport, it was the smallest practical avion that the Nieu- 
port Company produced, and it was probably the most dif- 
ficult plane to land. It was used extensively at the Front 



144 AN EXPLORER 

in 1916, but proved to be almost too delicate. Consequently, 
we believed that when a student had mastered this plane, 
he could feel confident of his ability to master readily any 
other type that might be assigned to him at the Front or 
anywhere else. 

On Field 5 instruction was given in taxying, taking off, 
and landing. Due to its small wing spread and short body, 
the 15-meter Nieuport lands very fast and is difficult to 
handle on the ground. The landing class always offered a 
good deal of excitement to the spectator and caused much 
trepidation in the hearts of newly arrived pilots. It was a 
long cry from a JN-4 to a 15-meter Nieuport. With a JN-4, 
to level off too far from the ground meant usually a disagree- 
able pancake and something of a shock; to level off a 15- 
meter Nieuport too far from the ground meant a crashed 
plane and a chance of serious physical injury. Field 5 was 
also used to give the students experience in landing near a 
designated mark and plenty of facility in getting familiar 
with straight flying on this delicate little plane. 

While living at Field 5 the pilots did spirals and acro- 
bacy on Fields 4 and 6, where it was necessary for them 
to perfect their ability to make both right- and left-hand 
turns, to learn to locate other planes in the air during flight 
and report the number of planes that they had seen, to exe- 
cute the dreaded tail spin and learn how to come out of it 
safely, to make tight spirals, half rolls, and side-slips — in 
a word, to show their nerve, willingness, and ability to do 
exactly as told and to follow instructions without fail. 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 145 

In the air work class on Field 4 the student was instructed 
how to make spiral turns at a bank of approximately 65°. 
He was expected to make continuous figure 8's at an eleva- 
tion of one thousand meters or more. The object of this was 
to familiarize him with the new ship and enable him to make 
his turns correctly. In the right-hand turn the torque of the 
rotary motor has a tendency to pull the nose down, while in 
the left-hand turn this tendency is reversed. Consequently, 
he was instructed to use very little rudder in making a right 
turn but to go into the turn by banking the plane over slowly. 
When the desired amount of bank is reached, the stick is 
pushed back sufficiently to keep the plane from side-slip- 
ping, while the rudder is used to hold the nose up. With 
the left turn, on the contrary, the rudder is used to keep the 
nose down. Great care had to be used to do smooth figure 
8's with this type of plane without getting into a vrilleor spin. 

One of the most important things that a pilot had to learn 
was how to get out of a spin. In order that he might have suf- 
ficient experience in doing this, and to make it safe for him 
to run the risks of getting into a spin while executing some 
other manoeuvre, it was necessary to teach him first how to 
get into a spin at will. Instruction as to how to use the con- 
trols so as to secure these results was given by an instructor 
in an airplane on the ground. The student was then expected 
to go through the same performance smoothly and accu- 
rately until he had satisfied the instructor that he thoroughly 
understood exactly what action of the controls would produce 
with speed and certainty a spin and what action would bring 



146 AN EXPLORER 

him out again. He was then told to take his plane up to an al- 
titude of nearly five thousand feet before beginning anything. 

The spin or vrille was executed by throttling down the 
motor, holding up the nose of the plane until its flying speed 
was almost lost, then kicking the right rudder violently over 
and pulling the stick sharply back and to the right. This 
caused the plane to fall immediately into a vrille or "spinning 
nose dive." In order to come out of the spin, the rudder is at 
first placed exactly in neutral, then the stick is brought into 
the neutral position and pushed slowly forward. This causes 
the plane to stop spinning and start a straight nose dive. After 
flying speed has been attained by the nose dive, the plane 
is gradually pulled up to a level flying position and the 
throttle opened. 

The chief danger is that the student in his excitement 
will over-control and send the plane into a reverse spin or 
else will push the stick too far forward and turn a somer- 
sault, coming out of the spin on his back. Consequently, it 
was very important to see that the student went up high 
enough so that he had plenty of room to come out of any 
queer positions into which he might get before falling too 
close to the ground. 

Personally, I should have been extremely glad to have 
been able to avoid the risks due to the necessity for teach- 
ing pilots aerial acrobacy in single seater machines, by using 
more Avros and perfecting the student's acrobacy in that 
extremely manoeuvreable dual control machine, but we had 
to use the planes that we could buy in France. Shortly after 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 147 

the Armistice was signed, we began receiving from England 
Avros we ought to have had months before. In order to al- 
low for a greatly enlarged programme, an excellent field was 
prepared and named Field 12, and was devoted entirely to 
Avro work under the direction of Lieutenant Raymond A. 
Watkins. The system known as the Gosport System, de- 
veloped by Colonel Smith Barry and based on sound flying 
principles, was to have been used on this field in the work of 
transforming pilots from the training they had received on 
JN-4's, Caudrons, and Farnams. Unfortunately, due to our 
inability to secure enough Avros and our determination to 
use to the limit every plane we could secure from the Supply 
Department in Paris, we were unable to take advantage of 
our belief in the effectiveness of the Gosport System. 

We all without exception would have preferred to have 
Avros for the larger part of our training. In this matter we 
were in entire agreement with the opinion of Colonel (later 
Brigadier-General) Lee, of theR.F. C, who told us in Wash- 
ington in December, 1917, that the Avro was the best train- 
ing plane that Great Britain had developed during the war. 
To show us what it was like, he had one sent over from 
England and gave frequent flights in Washington that 
winter. Yet some of our more experienced pilots were loth to 
admit the necessity of adopting a British training plane, and 
we never secured the full advantage of this information so 
generously given us by the British Aviation Liaison Officer. 

In the class in spirals on Field 4, students were sent to 
an altitude of about four thousand feet and required to make 









148 AN EXPLORER 

four good tight spirals to the left and one to the right with 
a dead motor and land inside of a circle seventy-five yards 
in diameter. The spirals were supposed to be completed at 
an elevation of about two thousand feet, and pilots were 
instructed to S down into the field from that altitude. To 
execute this manoeuvre properly, the engine is throttled 
down and a normal glide assumed, then the plane is slowly 
banked over to an angle of about 70°. After passing the 
45° point the controls become reversed, the stick, acting 
on the elevators which now become rudders, is pulled back 
until it is tight against the seat. The rudder is used as an ele- 
vator to hold the nose of the plane at such an angle as will 
insure sufficient speed without stalling and on the other hand 
without descending too fast. When S-ing into the field 
after completing the spirals, it was necessary to use a fast 
glide in order not to stall the plane on the sharp turns. 

After satisfying the instructor of his ability to do tight 
spirals, the pilot was next taught to do vertical banks or 
virages, beginning at an elevation of about five thousand 
feet. The movements of the controls in this manoeuvre are 
the same as those in tight spirals, except that the plane is 
banked over to 90° and the speed is increased to a point 
where dizziness is brought on very rapidly. 

After this the pilot learned the renversement, the quick- 
est method of doing an aerial "about-face." This manoeuvre 
is performed by first pulling smartly on the stick and then 
turning the plane over on its back with a sharp, quick kick 
on the right rudder, at the same time throttling the motor. 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 149 

Just as the plane comes over on its back, the rudder is kicked 
sharply back into a neutral position and the stick pulled 
back into the seat, which causes the plane to come out into 
a normal glide. 

The course of instruction at Field 5 was completed by 
learning what are known as "wing slips." When once in a 
wing slip, the plane falls very rapidly sideways and is con- 
trolled by a slight pressure on the stick and rudder. To get 
it into the wing slip, our pilots were taught to bank the 
plane over slowly, reducing the motor gradually and putting 
on reverse rudder so as to prevent the plane from diving, 
and at the same time pushing the stick slightly forward in 
order to overcome any tendency to spiral. To come out of 
the wing slip, it is necessary to push the rudder down so 
as to cause the plane to dive, and pull in the stick as though 
coming out of a spiral. 

To follow all these instructions in detail in the small 
single seater Nieuport when they knew that some of their 
friends had already been killed in attempting to execute 
these manoeuvres, involved an amount of courage that is 
not understood by the average soldier on the ground. At 
the same time it was absolutely necessary for the flyer who 
wished to become a good pursuit pilot to do exactly as he 
was told and carry out his instructions to the letter. 

The pilot who was able to master these various evolu- 
tions, quickly and safely, had nothing to fear from the 
air. The pilot who could not do it, but who had kept his 
inability from the knowledge of his previous instructors, 



150 AN EXPLORER 

was likely to meet with very serious and often fatal conse- 
quences. It was better for the Service that these fatal con- 
sequences should not happen in the course of combat at 
the Front ; but it was very hard on the morale of the stu- 
dents that these fatalities overtook their friends on the flying 
field. One of the instructors in acrobacy — a remarkable 
pilot and the most painstaking and successful of teachers — 
told me it had been his painful duty to help remove eight 
bodies out of crashed planes on the acrobacy field alone. 

With the perfection of modern methods of physical 
examination for aviators, it ought to be possible to prevent 
most accidents of this kind by taking poor pilots off* the 
flying list before they reach this point. In many cases, how- 
ever, the young pilot is too proud to admit that he is not 
physically fit to do this type of aerial acrobacy, and labors 
under a mistaken idea that by sheer will power he can pro- 
vide what is lacking. 

A considerable amount of weeding out occurred at Field 
5, and every effort was made to prevent students from con- 
tinuing in their combat training if they gave evidence of 
physical or mental inability to meet its requirements. Those 
who passed successfully went on to Field 7, which was fur- 
nished with the same type of plane equipped with larger 
and more powerful engines. Here the 120 H.P. Le Rhone 
took the place of the 80 H.P. This field, under the able 
direction of Captain (later Major) R. S. Davis, was one of 
our very best fields. It was the only field that succeeded in 
developing a band of its own — a band, by the way, that 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 151 

made excellent music, and greatly helped the men at Field 
7 to be keen about their own organization. Both Fields 5 
and 7 maintained very high morale among their officers and 
enlisted men. They took excellent care of their students, 
and endeavored to keep up their interest as they went 
along. When the weather prevented regular flying hours, 
every effort was made to encourage indoor baseball, hand- 
ball, and boxing. 

In addition to becoming familiar with a more power- 
ful motor, the principal instruction at Field 7 consisted of 
practice in formation flying and the tactics of patrols, both 
offensive and defensive. Beginning with the simplest kind 
of formations, the pilot was gradually made familiar with the 
latest forms of aerial tactics as fast as they were brought 
back from the Front. We were helped by aviators who had 
engaged in actual combat with the enemy, and who had 
learned all that both friends and foes had to teach, in those 
famous battles in the air that formed the most spectacular 
part of the modern battlefield. 

It was early borne in upon us that the aviator who was 
a grandstand player did not last long against an enemy for- 
mation. The successful pursuit pilot must curb his individ- 
ual daring and his love of taking a sporting chance. Team 
play, cooperation, and the weight of numbers were all essen- 
tial. As the war went on, fighting in the air became more and 
more a matter of maintaining successful formations intact 
under all circumstances. It will thus be seen that formation 
flying was one of our most important subjects and one that 



152 AN EXPLORER 

required skilful teaching and the closest application of all 
students. 

It generally took about half an hour for the pilot to accus- 
tom himself to the new plane. Then he was given four hours' 
work in a small group of three or four to become familiar 
with the requirements of keeping his place in formation 
under all sorts of conditions. Then four hours in flying in 
a larger group, followed by four hours of work involving 
offensive and defensive tactics, and two hours of patrol at 
an altitude of about 15,000 feet. 

There are several methods used in forming a patrol. 
Where there is a very large field, the patrol can be formed 
on the ground and the take off can be made in the desired 
formation. At the Front, however, many of the airdromes 
were small, and few of them large enough or good enough 
to make this feasible. Consequently, the desired formation 
was usually achieved in the air by one of two or three 
methods. The method generally followed at Field 7 was for 
the leader, before taking off, to acquaint each member of his 
formation with the following facts : the place over which 
planes would rendezvous ; the altitude at which the patrol 
would form, generally about 1500 feet or high enough to 
prevent serious accidents, but not so high as to waste time 
or make it difficult for members of the patrol to find one 
another ; the general direction which the leader would take 
after the formation was made ; the probable route which he 
intended to follow ; the way in which his plane was marked, 
usually by a streamer placed on right or left wing, depend- 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 153 

ing upon whether the pilots were to use right or left turns 
while forming the patrol. Patrols were formed as nearly over 
the hangars of Field 7 as possible, in order that the in- 
structors might the more readily note which pilots failed 
to get into formation quickly and observe the cause of their 
mistakes. 

After each pilot of the patrol had received his instructions, 
he took off as soon as possible without delaying or interfering 
with the others, got his altitude, and proceeded to the des- 
ignated rendezvous. As soon as he arrived at this place, 
always maintaining the proper altitude, he began to make 
circles in the specified direction. The leader was instructed 
to wait for all of the patrol to form before starting out. As 
soon as he saw that all were there, he gave the signal of 
"attention" by rocking his plane from side to side. 

In directing the manoeuvres of aerial patrols in the future, 
we may expect that the use of the wireless telephone will 
materially change many of the tactics which were common 
at Issoudun in November, 1918. At the same time it is well 
to remember that the enemy by powerful counter wireless 
can render the successful operation of such means of com- 
munication extremely difficult and perhaps impossible. 

The leader was instructed to keep a straight course until 
the formation was in good order behind him, to make it as 
comfortable as possible for all the members of the forma- 
tion, and to govern his own speed by that of the slowest 
plane in the patrol. Our pilots frequently had trouble in 
learning to join their formations without taking too much 



154 AN EXPLORER 

time and without getting lost The most common fault was 
making the turns too wide. The pilots who arrived at the 
rendezvous first would grow tired of waiting, and would 
tend to form wider and wider circles over a large area, 
which made it difficult for the leader to get them together 
quickly. Another trouble was the tendency to keep climbing 
unconsciously to a higher elevation than that designated as 
the level of the first formation. Equipped with a more power- 
ful motor than he had used before, and engaged in trying 
to see which of the hundred or more planes which might 
be in the air at that time belonged to his formation, it was 
very easy for the inexperienced pilot to keep climbing unless 
he frequently referred to his barometer. 

Another difficulty was that of forming in a strong breeze, 
when the planes tend to make elongated curves unless the 
pilots take particular pains to make sharp turns when flying 
with the wind. In the face of these and kindred difficulties 
the best pilots soon came to the fore. As for the others it 
was often necessary to signal to the leader from the ground 
to start his patrol without waiting for those who were "lost, 
strayed, or stolen." 

Pilots in formations for instructional purposes were num- 
bered as follows : 

Leader No. 1, 

First pilot on the left, No. 2, 1 

First pilot on the right, No. 3, 2 3 

Second on the left, No. 4, 4 5 

and so on. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 155 

In general, No. 2 was instructed to fly 50 meters above and 
behind No. 1, and at an angle of 45° to his left ; No. 3 the 
same distance above and behind No. 1 and at an angle of 
45° to his right ; No. 4 and No. 5 took positions relatively 
similar to the left and right respectively of No. 2 and No. 3. 
Thus each member of the formation was 50 meters behind 
and above the pilot immediately in front of him and at 
a constant angle of 45° from him, no matter how many 
planes comprised the patrol. If at any time during the patrol 
the leader was obliged to drop out, No. 3 took his place. 

The last man on the left was the "rescue man." It was 
his duty to watch any machine that fell out of formation and 
follow it down, but he did not land except in case of emer- 
gency. If everything was found to be satisfactory and the 
pilot whom he had followed down did not need assistance, 
the rescue man was instructed to ascend again and rejoin 
the formation, which he was supposed to find circling over- 
head. If the pilot whom he had followed had crashed and 
appeared to need assistance, it was the duty of the rescue 
man to land and render all possible aid. On observing this, 
the remainder of the formation was instructed to return to 
Field 7 and report. 

The course in formation flying was graded. At first, in 
making simple turns, the leader was directed to give no 
signal, but to start gradually, at the same time speeding up 
his engine in order to assist pilots on the inside of the turn 
to execute the manoeuvre without stalling or losing flying 
speed. Pilots on the inside were told to throttle down as fast 



156 AN EXPLORER 

as possible and cut in slightly toward the leader in order to 
avoid being obliged to make too sharp a turn. They had to 
be careful not to approach too close to the arc described by 
the leader in order to avoid getting into the wash of his pro- 
peller. Pilots on the outside of the turn had to speed up their 
engines in order to negotiate the turn as fast as possible and 
at the same time maintain their positions. When the leader 
desired to change the altitude at which the patrol was fly- 
ing, he did so slowly and deliberately, particularly in the 
early part of the training. He tried to avoid any tendency to 
run away from his formation. He had to keep track of the 
members of the patrol, and if necessary slacken speed in 
order to permit stragglers to catch up. 

After our students had advanced far enough to be ad- 
judged competent to gauge distances and to fly simple for- 
mations correctly with easy turns, they next undertook to 
learn various offensive manoeuvres in which they were 
obliged to execute sharp turns, at the same time always re- 
taining their position in the formation in order to keep the 
patrol well knit together as a unit ready for offence or defence. 
In making these fast, sharp turns, all pilots were instructed 
to keep their position even though those on the inside were 
obliged to slow down almost to the point of stalling. Until the 
pilot could fly by instinct he was very likely to stall and fall 
into a spin while attempting to make the sharp inside turns 
of the advanced patrol manoeuvres. Here, however, the con- 
fidence which he had obtained in passing through the ad- 
vanced work in acrobatic flying at Field 5 came to his as- 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 157 

sistance and gave him that assurance which was necessary 
in order to have him learn aerial tactics. 

The "cross-over" or 90° turn was considered advanta- 
geous for small patrols of three machines. In this manoeuvre 
each plane turns individually in its own place ; the inside pilot 
climbing on the turn and the outside pilot diving slowly to 
avoid danger of collision. Machines No. 2 and No. 3 cross so 
that each has approximately the same distance to cover. 
Instead of one getting ahead of the other, the formation re- 
mains the same. It has the advantage of enabling a right turn 
to be made quickly and at uniform speed. 

Later on, in order to teach the pilots to fly in formation, 
automatically, without having to devote conscious attention 
to the coordination of eye and hand, the patrol leaders were 
sent out with particular orders to execute steep and unex- 
pected dives and climbs, violent change of speed, and "archie 
dodging." 

The Taylor stunt or right-about-face necessitated pre- 
arranged signals. The leader did a renversement or half roll 
while the other members of the formation did sharp right 
or left turns depending on their respective places. This ma- 
noeuvre was considered excellent practice in getting together 
rapidly and without loss of altitude. 

The importance of constantly increasing the size of the 
unit was recognized and patrols of fifteen or more planes 
were occasionally attempted. It is well known that group 
flights of this nature were extensively used by the enemy 
during the summer of 1918. So thoroughly did the Ger- 



158 AN EXPLORER 

mans appreciate the value of preponderance of numbers 
in aerial fighting that they built more hangars than were 
actually necessary for the number of planes in commission 
at a given time. This enabled them to concentrate a large 
number of machines at a given point within a very few 
hours and without the necessity of waiting for the removal 
of hangars and machine shops. A large group of hangars 
empty yesterday, occupied to-day, could thus serve as a 
base for very large formations early to-morrow morning. 

Our large groups generally consisted of an agglomera- 
tion of units of five planes each, the different units formed 
in different locations at slightly different altitudes ; the lead- 
ing unit forming at the lowest altitude and the unit which 
was to be the last in the group formation at the highest al- 
titude. The disadvantage of attempting the use of very large 
groups is the possibility of one poor pilot being able through 
his eccentric flying to break up the entire formation. This 
only emphasizes the great need for careful and thorough 
instruction and the futility of trying to rush pilots to the 
Front without their having acquired complete mastery of 
the art. A man can be taught to fly in a few days of good 
weather, but it is a matter of months before he becomes 
sufficiently skilful in the art to make certain that he will 
not break up a large group formation by erratic flying, poor 
judgment, or getting rattled through having to give his 
attention to too many things at once. 

A defensive manoeuvre called the "Lufberry Show" was 
named for a very brilliant ace from Wallingford, Con- 



triji—tat 



T 



I 



* \ 



± 



I 
I 

I 



X 



TAYLOff STUAIT 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 159 

necticut, who was killed at the Front. The formation when 
attacked instinctively formed itself into a milling circle, 
milling round and round so that each plane protected the rear 
of the plane in front and was itself protected by the plane 
behind. In order to form this circle, the last plane on the 
designated side speeds up, flies opposite the leader, and starts 
the circle, followed by the next to the last plane on that side 
until the leader is reached, when he is followed in natural 
order by the planes on the other side of the formation. As 
soon as the circle has been completed, the leader again as- 
sumes direction of the formation, sets the pace, narrows or 
widens the circle, gains or loses altitude in accordance with 
his judgment, and finally breaks the circle and gives the 
signal for reassembling. 

The importance of this milling circle was dwelt upon 
with great emphasis by pilots who returned from the Front 
shortly before the Armistice was signed. It seemed to be the 
most effective way in which a small formation could escape 
successfully from the attack of a larger group. The chief dan- 
ger lay in the possible adverse action of the wind, which 
might take one deeper and deeper into enemy territory 
while one was milling around, unless the leader took pains 
to elongate his curves toward home. 

Leaders of formations were held responsible for having 
the formation fly at the designated altitude, and for observ- 
ing ground signals, reporting the number of planes seen in 
the air, the towns over which they had taken their patrols, 
and the fact that at the end of two hours in the air the patrol 



160 AN EXPLORER 

was reasonably near Field 7 and not so far away as to be 
obliged to make forced landings through lack of gas and oil. 
The members of each formation were also questioned as 
to what they had seen happening on the ground, as well as 
concerning planes which they had passed in the air. A pilot 
can hardly get too much practice in formation flying, since 
it forces him to fly by the feel of his plane rather than by 
watching his instruments and observing the action of the 
nose of his plane as compared with the horizon. 

Captain Davis and his staff" of instructors at this field, 
owing to their conscientious effort to perfect their students 
in the intricacies of securing the proper formation in the 
air, executing manoeuvres with precision, maintaining their 
places in the formation, and learning to judge distances ac- 
curately, produced excellent results. 

An interesting device for teaching pilots to judge distance 
correctly was a dummy ship staked out on the ground be- 
yond the line of hangars. Students were obliged to indicate 
required distances from this ship at various angles until 
they had acquired the ability to place themselves at exactly 
the specified angle and distance from the key ship. 

It was learned at the Front that one of the chief factors 
of success in aerial fighting is the character and ability of 
the leader of the patrol. Unusually good eyesight, quick 
judgment based on experience and prudence, ability to 
think quickly and correctly in the face of great emergency, 
coolness and courage in time of danger, and finally, a high 
degree of skill in carrying out his manoeuvres so as to facil- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 161 

itate the correct functioning of the patrol — such are the 
qualities which make a great flight commander. 

In the early days of the war we heard a great deal about 
individual combats in the air. Fonck, the great French ace, 
is said to have won most of his victories by sudden and 
unexpected attack alone on a solitary adversary, whom he 
had been able with his extraordinary vision to spot from 
afar and whom he had stalked as the Indian stalks the deer. 
The Indian must get to leeward of his quarry in order that 
its keen sense of smell may not enable it to detect his pres- 
ence. The falconlike Fonck must get between his adver- 
sary and the sun in order that his quarry may be unable 
to see him and so escape from that terrible diving attack in 
which the pursuer, travelling at a rate of two hundred miles 
or more an hour, is upon him before he is even aware of his 
presence in the sky. This kind of aerial fighting has always 
appealed to newspaper readers and to pilots, but it has 
proved to be very expensive. Fonck is one of the few who 
survived this plan of aerial warfare, and it is said he was 
never outnumbered in a combat. 

The average pilot, however, must owe his safety and his 
efficiency as a fighter to his ability to form a perfectly work- 
ing cog in the machine of the patrol. It was said that our 
pilots who passed successfully at Field 7 wasted less time 
at the Front in acquiring the ability to fit into squadron 
manoeuvres and in learning new tactics than the pilots of 
any other army. 

After completing the work in formation flying at Field 7, 



162 AN EXPLORER 

students were sent to Field 8 to learn aerial combat. We 
were extremely fortunate in having at this field several 
of the very best combat pilots in existence. During the sum- 
mer of 1918, Captain Robert Austin, the leading combat 
instructor, repeatedly demonstrated his ability to out-ma- 
noeuvre the best British and French aces that we could 
induce to visit the school. His flying was without flaw. He 
did not take such risks as did the British aces, and never 
went in for stunts near the ground or any unnecessary per- 
formances, but when combating against an opponent he 
showed an uncanny ability to out-guess the other's next 
manoeuvre and to keep his enemy always at his mercy. 

The wonderful record that our graduates made at the 
Front and their success in sending down far more enemy 
planes than they themselves lost, was due in part to their 
thorough training in formation flying, but in very great mea- 
sure to the confidence which came from having engaged 
in combat against Captain Austin and the members of his 
staff. 

It was on Field 8 that a pilot had an opportunity to use 
every bit of the flying ability which he had acquired in all 
his previous experience. Some of the American trained pi- 
lots, who had flown too long on the old type of preliminary 
training planes, found it difficult to accustom themselves to 
the rapidity of manoeuvre demanded by the instructors at 
this field. While it was necessary that the pilot should have a 
good foundation in ordinary flying before coming here and 
should be able to do aerial acrobacy with skill and confidence, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 163 

it was also essential that he should not have acquired any bad 
habits. The good combat pilot must be able to fly in any di- 
rection and in any attitude with supreme confidence in his 
machine and in his ability to put it in any desired position. 
He must be extremely alert. He must have formed the habit 
of seeing every visible plane in the sky and of knowing by 
instinct its approximate location at any given moment. It 
was said that the remarkably long life of Fonck at the Front 
was due to his constant inspection of every sector of the air. 
Probably seventy -five per cent of the pilots shot down at the 
Front were the victims of surprise attacks, and had no idea 
that there was an enemy in the immediate vicinity until he 
was so close that it was impossible to escape. 

It was here on Field 8 that the aggressive spirit of a 
good polo player or of a first-class football player placed 
him in the front ranks of the combat pilots. The sluggish 
flyer is likely to leave himself open to attack by an aggres- 
sive pilot. The active, energetic, aggressive fighter is not only 
more likely to gain the advantage of offensive tactics, but 
will also be more likely to spot his enemy first and gain the 
benefit of position. The American boy is particularly good in 
games requiring quick judgment and correct action. This 
trait made him excellent in meeting the rapidly changing 
conditions of aerial combat.Therewereno hard and fast rules 
that could be laid down as to how to win out in a "dog fight," 
as the rough and tumble aerial combats were called. "If a 
Hun gets on your tail and you see the tracers coming close, 
you will most likely do some acrobatics that you never have 



164 AN EXPLORER 

done before." "In this work a steady hand, a cool head, and 
an all-seeing eye are the essential features of safety. Add 
to them ability to fly and skill in using the machine gun, 
and your results spell success." So we were told by pilots 
from the Front. 

All the planes used on Field 8 were equipped with cam- 
era guns built like a machine gun, but shooting pictures 
instead of bullets. The pictures register the position of the 
enemy at the moment that the trigger is pulled. In this way 
it is possible for the instructor and the student to see what 
would have happened in actual combat. Examination of 
these pictures illustrates the tendency of one pilot to shoot 
when still at too great a distance for effective work, of an- 
other pilot to overshoot the mark, and of a third to fail to 
make sufficient allowance for the speed of the opposing 
machine. 

In actual aerial gun fire, from six to ten bullets are fired 
in every burst or volley. This burst will have a spread of 
about thirty feet. If the gun is properly directed, the enemy 
plane will pass through this thirty-foot fan with a good 
chance of being hit in some vital spot. The camera gun takes 
but one picture for a burst, but that picture shows just what 
portions of the enemy plane would have come under gun 
fire, since it shows the direction in which the plane was flying 
and the distance of the plane at the time the shot was fired. 

Any one who has ever done any target practice knows 
the importance of being able to learn the exact results as 
soon as possible after firing. When the student arrives at 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 165 

the stage where it is advisable for him to use an actual 
machine gun, he can aim at a target on a lake or on sand. 
In either case he is able to see at once, by the splash of the 
water or the little clouds of dust, exactly where his shots 
are hitting. The main drawback is that he is not firing at 
a rapidly moving airplane, but at targets which under the 
most favorable conditions are only able to move in an area 
of two dimensions instead of three. With the camera gun, 
on the other hand, the aviator can fire at an airplane which 
is going through all the gyrations of aerial combat. He then 
can descend, have his pictures immediately developed, and 
see the results of his judgment and skill. Failure to allow 
for deflection, forgetfulness of the fact that both gun-plat- 
form and target are in rapid motion, over-confidence, or the 
reverse, are plainly shown in the permanent record of the 
pictures. Good shots were just as plainly recorded — and 
more likely to be preserved than the others ! 

The first work at Field 8 was to train a pilot in the use 
of sights on his gun. Small parachutes were used. These 
were released at about ten thousand feet, care being taken 
to see that they were not dropped over territory where other 
machines were flying in large numbers. The greatest dan- 
ger from a parachute is that it will get tangled up in the tail 
of the plane. Consequently, the best method is to release it 
when making a tight spiral or a skid with the motor off". In 
either case the draught, being athwart the ship, will carry 
the parachute away from the tail. 

Shooting at the parachute was considered the best way of 



166 AN EXPLORER 

beginning, because it involved less danger than shooting at 
another plane. When two pilots worked together, one acted 
as a target for the first half of the period and the other for 
the second half. The quarry was ordered to fly steadily in a 
given direction while the other pilot practised shooting at 
him from directly behind, from the sides, above and below, 
so as to secure practice at all angles and be obliged to make 
widely different allowances for direction and speed. It was 
advised that the attacker dive at his target many times, 
taking pictures only when sure of his results. Furthermore, 
pilots were encouraged to use the full allowance of their time, 
even though something happened to their target. 

It was related of Lieutenant Luke, whose short life at the 
Front was full of an extraordinary number of victories over 
the Hun, that he never came in unless he had to, and that 
he was constantly borrowing some one else's plane — so 
greatly did he appreciate the truth that practice makes per- 
fect. It was said that his death was due to his fondness for 
fighting alone and his dislike of formation flying. His record 
is more fully given elsewhere. 

Practice in avoiding surprise attack was taught as fol- 
lows: A pilot was sent out to patrol the road between two towns. 
His orders were to patrol his designated territory until he 
saw his adversary and then to engage in combat. Naturally, 
it was the object of the attacker to employ all the rules for 
successful attack, namely, to make use of the sun, mist, and 
clouds so as to approach without being seen and to keep 
between his quarry and the sun when delivering the final 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 167 

shot. His object was to be directly in the area in which the 
quarry would have the greatest difficulty of seeing anything. 

As soon as sufficient practice had been obtained in single 
patrols, groups were designated to patrol between given 
points and other groups were told off to attack them. The 
instructions were that members of the patrol should fly well 
apart, avoiding close formations, and that each member of 
the formation should S to and fro so as to have a clear 
vision of the entire sky. The first member of the patrol to 
sight the opposing group was directed to leave his place in 
the formation and signal to the leader. When the attack 
was made, each member of the patrol was directed to pick 
out an adversary and combat with him, taking care to avoid 
collision with other planes. After making one shot with his 
camera gun, each pilot was directed to attempt to withdraw 
as fast as possible to one of the boundaries of the patrolled 
area. The pursuing pilot was directed to cease pursuit as 
soon as his adversary had reached this rendezvous. The 
escaping pilot was then directed to circle at an agreed alti- 
tude and wait for the other members of his group. On their 
arrival they formed again and continued as before. 

It was expected that in this course at Field 8 a pilot 
should learn to sit tight in his plane in such a manner as to 
be able to use his gun sights without moving about in his 
seat; to use his sights quickly and accurately, as instinc- 
tively as a trapshooter firing at clay pigeons; to handle his 
plane intuitively in all manoeuvres and be able to bring it out 
of any given evolution in the desired position with relation 



168 AN EXPLORER 

to his opponent ; to keep his eye constantly on the enemy 
and fly by the " feel " of his ship ; to make successful ag- 
gressive attacks under various conditions ; to manoeuvre 
out of a difficult position and turn the tables on his oppo- 
nent ; to acquire a falconlike ability to see everything in the 
sky above and below ; and to spot his quarry from afar. 

The pilot who was able to satisfy Captain Austin of his 
ability to do these things had no reason to fear that he would 
be out-manoeuvred by any Hun whom he was likely to 
meet. Of course, if through carelessness or misfortune he 
became separated from his formation and was attacked by 
superior numbers, his ability to engage in successful combat 
was of small importance compared with the speed of his 
ship in getting home. 

At the time the Armistice was signed, Captain (later 
Major) Harry L. Wingate, who was in charge of the field, 
was extraordinarily successful in overcoming the difficulties 
of keeping in commission a large number of the mono- 
planes and other types of small scout machines which were 
in use at this field, and which received very severe handling 
in the course of aerial combat work. Constant inspection of 
machines after they had come in from flight, a high morale 
among the enlisted mechanics, and a splendid determina- 
tion to overcome every obstacle at no matter what cost, en- 
abled Captain Wingate to graduate from fifteen to twenty 
men every flying day at his field. Considering the type of 
planes that he had to work with and the severity of their 
use, this was a remarkable achievement. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 169 

While still living at Field 8, the student received instruc- 
tion in aerial fire at Field 14, which was built especially for 
this purpose. The work consisted of shooting with Vickers 
Machine Guns mounted on type 24 Nieuports and using 
the Victor gear. The targets were on the ground, and con- 
sisted of trenches, silhouettes, and condemned machines, 
with shot screens so placed as to register hits when the shoot- 
ing was made Math proper deflection. During the course each 
student fired from eight hundred to one thousand rounds 
in the air, and by being able "to see the dust fly" attained 
confidence in using his sights and proved that he had a 
sufficient knowledge of deflection to engage successfully 
in aerial combat at the Front. Diving at ground targets re- 
quires nerve and confidence, but proved not to be as danger- 
ous as had been supposed. There were no casualties at this 
field. Captain George W. Eypper, who had entire charge 
of the work in Aerial Gunnery after Major G. Bonnell went 
to the Front, carried on as successfully as his predecessor. 



CHAPTER XIV 

OBSERVATION AND NIGHT PURSUIT 

TWO new problems arose in the summer of 1918. 
The first was the necessity of teaching observation 
pilots to fly DH-4's ; the second was the demand for pilots 
who could undertake the dangerous work of night pursuit. 
When the DH-4's with the Liberty motor began to arrive 
from the United States, conditions at Field 7 were such that 
there seemed to be more room there, and a better chance of 
successful operation without interference with the regular 
work of the field, than at any other point. In the mean time 
Field 10 was secured, and especially prepared to meet the 
need for a large field devoted entirely to instruction on DH-4 
planes. This was the only plane that was being manufac- 
tured in the United States for use at the Front. While not 
at all adapted for combat work, it was probably originally 
intended as a two-seater fighter. As a matter of fact, it was 
used by observation and bombing squadrons. 

The training of observers was carried on at Tours at the 
Second Aviation Instruction Centre. Here at Field 10 we 
attempted the instruction of observation pilots, and aimed to 
give them some knowledge of what the observer was trying 
to do. There was a ground course, planned to cover from two 
to five days, and meant to give the pilot an elementary know- 
ledge of the work carried on in an observation squadron. 
It was given by officers who had seen service at the Front, 
and who were able to impress the student with the importance 
of the work. This was all the more necessary because the 



s 
s 

^ 






b 
i 




IN THE AIR SERVICE 171 

average pilot, longing for the excitement of pursuit squad- 
ron activity, was inclined to look with little favor on the 
actual routine that was before him. Lectures on the organi- 
zation of the ground forces, intended to give familiarity with 
methods of attack and defence used by both artillery and 
infantry ; lectures on interpretation of aerial photography, 
intended to teach the pilot the value of the photographic 
work done on his missions ; and lectures on the methods of 
cooperation with the other branches of the Service were 
given from time to time. 

Tactical and strategical reconnaissance; a thorough ex- 
planation of the use of the compass and its importance in 
cloudy or foggy weather; explanation of the other instru- 
ments used in aerial navigation; interpretation of things seen 
on the ground and their respective importance ; studies of 
the organization and actual experienceof observation squad- 
rons ; the kind of preparation needed for an artillery mission ; 
a pilot's duties on a photographic mission ; the importance 
of contact patrol ; lectures on the Liberty motor and the use 
of the somewhat complicated set of instruments in front of 
the pilot's seat in a DH-4, were given as well as possible 
under the circumstances. 

Due to the pressing demand from the Front that obser- 
vation pilots be sent up immediately, and due to the large 
number of crashes of the DH-4's, flown by inexperienced 
pilots, it was felt that every available minute of flying 
weather should be taken advantage of, even at the cost of 
missing some of the important lectures. This was very dis- 



172 AN EXPLORER 

couraging for the highly trained observers and aerial pho- 
tographers who were detailed to the work of ground in- 
struction at Field 10. The demand from the Front, however, 
was so insistent, and the mortality among DH-4 pilots so 
extraordinarily high, that it was necessary to give our stu- 
dents all the actual flying instruction possible. 

The first part of the course consisted of ninety minutes 
of dual control work with an instructor, verified by a practi- 
cal examination with a tester in which the student had to 
demonstrate his ability to make forced landings and to get 
his plane out of the various skids and slips into which it 
was thrown by the tester. 

After satisfying the instructors of his ability to use the 
Liberty motor correctly, and to handle the DH-4 satisfac- 
torily, he was required to make a dozen good landings from 
an elevation of about one thousand feet and to practise sharp 
banks and figure 8's at an altitude of about twenty-five hun- 
dred feet. This elementary air work, covering about three 
hours, was followed by practice in spirals, first loose spirals, 
later tight spirals, with the machine banked up to 90°; and 
finally about four hours in formation flying. It was not a sat- 
isfactory course, but it was the best we could do under the 
circumstances, considering the imperative demands from 
the Front. 

None of this work in DH-4's should have been given in 
France. The pilots came from America, the ships and motors 
came from America, so did the gas, oil, and spare parts — 
everything, in fact, that was used at the field. All this had 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 173 

to be brought across an ocean infested with submarines. 
Better fields for the work could easily have been found in 
America, much nearer to the source of supply of both men 
and machines. I suppose that for the sake of encouraging 
our citizens the Administration thought it was better to say 
that one hundred and fifty DH-4's had been sent to France, 
than to say that they had been sent to an American training 
school. Of course, the public did not know that the one hun- 
dred and fifty sent to France for training purposes could 
have been used more effectively at home and at far less 
expense. By sending them to France, it added to the total of 
machines shipped overseas — a total that was never large 
enough to satisfy American public opinion. 

The difficulties of operating these heavy ships on a wet 
French airdrome were enormous. The necessity for bringing 
over so much material, including gas and oil, to do what 
should have been done in America was most unfortunate. 
It would have saved time, money, and men, if those DH-4's, 
instead of being sent to American training schools in France, 
had been used for the instruction of our personnel at home 
and only enough sent to the training schools in France 
for use in a refresher course. At Issoudun we ought not to 
have been required to do more than see that a pilot already 
trained on American DH-4's had a chance to learn the 
latest wrinkles as taught by officers just back from the 
Front, before being sent there himself. 



174 AN EXPLORER 

Night Flying was practically unheard of before the war. 
Gradually the use of night bombers became practicable, and 
both Paris and London were treated to frequent nocturnal 
visits. The answer to this was the development of night 
pursuit flying. It is difficult for a pilot to imagine any greater 
risk than being expected to take up a delicate pursuit plane 
at night. It had to be done, however, and Field 7, with its 
large expanse of open country, offered the best location. It 
was regrettable that the necessity of night work interfered 
toacertain extentwith the sleepand restof the men whowere 
carrying on the regular duties of the work in formation 
flying, but this was unavoidable. It was one of our greatest 
disappointments that the Armistice was signed just as our 
night pursuit pilots were receiving the finishing touches 
of their training in cooperation with the Searchlight Com- 
pany. 

Hunting the Hun in the dark was a favorite sport of the 
late Captain Armstrong, of the R. A. F., Commanding Offi- 
cer of the first British Night Pursuit Squadron at the Front. 
He himself had a record of having brought down more 
than fifty Hun machines, including the gigantic five-engine 
Gotha. 

One day I was crossing the street from my quarters to 
my office, when the unaccustomed sound produced by a 
plane looping near the ground called my attention to the ex- 
traordinary antics of a Sopwith Camel. It made loop after loop 
over Headquarters, missing the roofs of the buildings by only 
a few feet, finally coming so close to the ground as to cause 




Used on Night Flying: Soptvith Camel 




Nieuport 33, 18-meter, 80 H.P. Le Rhone motor 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 175 

us all to hold our breaths as the marvellously skilful pilot 
pulled his ship out of a loop within a few inches of the 
ground, fairly touching the long grass. Then the machine 
was pulled straight up into a "zoom" of unparalleled mag- 
nitude. It stalled, fell like a leaf, fluttering from side to side, 
recovered, made a tight spiral incredibly near the ground, lit 
as gracefully as a butterfly, and hardly rolled more than a 
few inches. Then a small dog bounded out of the cockpit, 
from the pilot's lap to the ground, while the pilot himself 
with a novel under his arm and a smile on his face walked 
nonchalantly across the airdrome. Thus did Captain Arm- 
strong announce his arrival. 

One of the greatest differences between the Royal Air 
Forces and our own was that they believed in encouraging 
morale and stimulating their pilots to recklessness by such 
exhibitions as these, even though the most skilful pilots 
occasionally met their death in this fashion. Captain Arm- 
strong himself was killed shortly after the Armistice while 
stunting too close to a hangar. 

The American Air Service held that the advantages of 
such recklessness were more than offset by the increased 
chances of losing valuable lives. The war did not last long 
enough for us to determine which was the proper method. 
There is no question but that there was a far higher morale 
among the pilots in the British squadrons than in our own. 
This was due to various causes. Furthermore, I do not be- 
lieve that the type of pilot that was being graduated from 
Issoudun during the summer and fall of 1918 needed ex- 









176 AN EXPLORER 

hibitions of this kind to make him willing and ready to take 
all necessary chances when he went after the Hun. 

Captain Armstrong was the most graceful and skilful 
flyer that I have ever seen. He was not quite as good in aerial 
combat as our own Captain Austin, as was shown in a 
famous twenty-minute struggle. We were most fortunate, 
however, in being able to secure his services in starting our 
instruction in night pursuit. 

Planes for night pursuit work are equipped with naviga- 
tion lights, — one at the end of each wing, one on the tail, 
and one inside the cowl, — all of which may be turned on 
or off at the pleasure of the pilot. There is also a signalling 
light placed under the seat of the ship for signalling to the 
ground. This is used to give a code letter to the operator 
of the field lights, so that when the pilot gets ready to land 
after circling the field, the landing light is flashed on for his 
benefit. In order to avoid accidents in the darkness, each ship 
is given a number, and is not supposed to land except when 
that number appears in the ground lights on the landing field. 
In addition to the signal lights on the ground, there are two 
powerful searchlights, used as landing lights, placed along 
the line of direction of the wind. Planes leave them on the 
right when taking off and landing. Gradually the students 
became accustomed to landing with less and less light and to 
taking off in the darkness without any lights at all. Finally, 
they acquired sufficient skill to make good landings with the 
landing light on for only thirty seconds. This practice was 
essential because of the necessity of having as little light as 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 177 

possible showing on the airdrome at the Front The position 
of the field is constantly shown by one small red light on 
the ground. 

Half a dozen of the most skilful pilots that we could se- 
cure, under the able leadership of Captain R. Melin, were 
selected for this training. They began practising landings 
at night in an Avro with Captain Armstrong in the instruc- 
tor's seat. After being given a sufficient number of landings 
and flights to enable them to get accustomed to night flying 
in a delicate, highly manoeuvreable plane, they kept on prac- 
tising until they gained sufficient confidence to fly on dark 
nights without having to worry about the technical side of 
the art. Our students were so good that it took only from 
six to ten flights with the instructor before they were ready 
to go solo on the same machine. Then followed from ten to 
twenty-five more landings on the Avro until the pilot was 
confident that he knew where the ground was and had 
learned not to misjudge the few things which are visible 
even on dark nights. The Avro is an ideal machine for this 
purpose. 

After the student had shown the necessary proficiency 
on the Avro, he was sent up in the Sopwith Camel, a single- 
seater machine equipped with a 120 H.P. motor, the ma- 
chine preferred by Captain Armstrong as being most effec- 
tive for night pursuit. In the Camel the student practised 
landing fifteen or more times until he acquired the neces- 
sary skill. In connection with practice in landing, the stu- 
dents were sent up to do the usual air work, utilizing from 



178 AN EXPLORER 

ten to twenty-five flights in this way in accordance with 
their own individual difficulties in mastering the problem 
of correctly going through manoeuvres without being able to 
see the horizon. Thus the students gradually came to be able 
to execute the same acrobatics at night as in the daytime. 
During this stage, also, they were given experience in fly- 
ing in the searchlight, — a very trying performance at first. 
They also had practice in avoiding it; and in sending the 
necessary signals. 

After the technique of night flying in small pursuit 
planes was mastered (owing to the scarcity of Sopwith 
Camels we also used the Nieuport, type 28), the most in- 
teresting part of the work began, namely, practice in attack- 
ing night bombers. The night bomber is picked up by 
listening devices, his position is given to the searchlight 
operators, and the pursuit pilot is sent up to the known ele- 
vation of the night bomber and into his approximate loca- 
tion. When the pursuit pilot has reached his appointed 
position, he gives the signal with one of Very's lights. Imme- 
diately the searchlights, directed by the listening devices, 
are turned on the night bomber, who is then held in the 
powerful rays. The pursuit plane comes up in the blackness 
behind until he is a little below and directly in the rear of 
his prey, and shoots from a distance of about twenty yards 
and at an angle of about 10° below the night bomber. He 
has plenty of time to fire deliberately and with care. Captain 
Armstrong used to say that the results were so satisfactory 
as to be "hardly sportsmanlike"! 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 179 

As a means of offsetting the successful use of the large 
night bombing planes there is no doubt that the night pur- 
suit squadrons were eminently satisfactory. In fact, it was 
expected that the enemy would soon have copied this de- 
velopment to an extent which would have made the use of 
the great Handley Page night bomber extremely precari- 
ous. The inability of a huge, heavily weighted, bombing 
plane to manoeuvre with sufficient rapidity to dodge the 
agile scout was sure to be his undoing, particularly as there 
would be no friendly searchlights in the enemy country to 
enable him to see the scout and open fire on his assailant. 
The answer would be to place searchlights on the bombing 
plane itself, although that would make it an easier mark. 

It was a bitter disappointment to Captain Melin and 
his group of excellent pilots that the Armistice was signed 
in the very week that they were perfecting their ability to 
cooperate with the searchlight companies. After they had 
secured the necessary experience at the Front, they would 
have been used as instructors to develop future night pur- 
suit squadrons. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE "PLANE NEWS" 

OUR weekly paper, of which we were very proud, and 
on which we depended for all sorts of inspiration, 
both serious and humorous, was called the Plane News. 
Started under the auspices of Colonel Kilner in November, 
1917, and printed by hand on an ancient mimeograph, it 
laid claim to being the first newspaper of the American Ex- 
peditionary Forces that was entirely edited and printed by 
soldiers. Seeing the advantages of being able to brighten a 
despondent community by this weekly budget of news and 
good cheer, Miss Givenwilson, then Directrice of the Red 
Cross Activities at Issoudun, secured the funds wherewith 
a real press and printing-office were established in camp. 
During 1918, this little paper steadily grew in influence 
and importance, although from time to time its personnel 
had to be changed, owing to the exigencies of military 
service. By the middle of the year it had become recog- 
nized as the official organ of the American Air Service in 
France. 

Shortly after my arrival, Lieutenant H. M. Ogg, who 
had been acting as officer in charge of the Plane News, was 
ordered away and his place was taken by Captain Leo R. 
Sack, who had had plenty of journalistic experience in Wash- 
ington. As a newspaper man, Captain Sack thoroughly ap- 
preciated the importance of having the paper run in such 
a way as to be read by the largest number in order to do 
the greatest possible amount of good. Under his guidance 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 181 

the Plane News increased in size, circulation, and influence. 
As a means of raising our spirits and keeping us steadily 
at work in the face of great difficulties, it was of supreme 
importance to the camp. 

The Plane News was most fortunate in having on its per- 
manent staff two artists of first-class ability and ingenuity — 
Sergeant George D. Alexander and Private Timoleon John- 
ston. Their series of cartoons depicting various features of 
camp life and aviation experience were enjoyed by thou- 
sands every week. The associate editor was Private Gene 
D. Robinson, whose Epistles of Peter rank high as keen 
comment on the conduct of the war veiled in humorous 
vein. Of a trip to Paris he wrote as follows : 

A guy should get a taxi without talking to the driver, as the me- 
tres run on just the same when you're talking. Always have your 
home address in your pocket, as the ride may be finished in an am- 
bulance. Don't ask the driver where you are going, as he will figger 
that you want to tour the city anyway and the only place he won't 
take you is the top of the Eiffel Tower, but he will add that on the 
bill anyway. The taxi will finally stop when it runs out of gas and 
if the name of the street is Rue de Bill it's probably the place you're 
bound for. Pay the bill and if he says anything tell him that he need 
not deliver the car to you, but to keep the money anyway. 

If you go in a cafe at 11 o'clock the waiter will get around about 
1 o'clock. There is nothing on the menu to eat, no matter how care- 
ful you read it, and when the food comes you don't know whether 
to salt and pepper it or to use a nut cracker. While you are studying, 
the waiter will ask for a tip because the clock strikes 2 o'clock. Tell 
him to bring you the leaf of a tree, a limp dish rag with icing, some- 
thing sweet and slimy on the scalloped tail of a high geared snail, 
and he will say something in French, probably that his daughter 



182 AN EXPLORER 

sprained her ankle while taking a violin lesson, but outside of that 
everything will be lovely. 

I guess I will close now as I got to be in a battle today, which 
may decide the war, and I wish you would send them ten bucks you 
owe me Steve. 

Yours 'til Germany goes Democratic, Pete 

Occasionally we got a letter, the publication of which in 
the Plane News helped to cheer everybody up, such as the 
following from Colonel Kilner: 

/ desire to commend the work of you and your Staff at the 3rd 
A. I. C in the training- of pursuit pilots. Officers at the Front state 
that the pursuit pilots norv being received at the Front are the best 
that have ever been turned out, and are highly pleased with their 
performances. Request that you convey this commendation to all con- 
cerned. 

Editorially, the Plane News remarked: 

Such positive proof of the effectiveness of the school is gratifying. 
All along we have felt that we were on the right track, and that the 
pilots that were graduated from the school to the front, would reflect 
high credit on their country and on the Air Service. 

Only the fittest survive here. But if they cannot make good here, 
why send unfit pilots to the front where the life or death of thou- 
sands of doughboys depends upon their efforts ? 

It is pleasing to know that the " pursuit pilots now being received 
at the front are the best that have ever been turned out " and that 
officers "are highly pleased with their performances." 

With every officer and man and every student officer at the Third 
A. I. C. on his toes to make good, and all working with energy and 
enthusiasm that can not be equalled, there is every reason to believe 
we will continue to send the "best pilots" to the front. 

From time to time the Plane News would raise the ambi- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 183 

tions of our pilots by printing articles concerning work done 
by graduates of the school after they had gone to the Front. 
Here is an article of this type about Lieutenant Frank Luke, 
Jr., who won undying fame in his few weeks at the Front : 

Luke is gone, but the memory of his exploits will remain long 
after this war is forgotten. 

As a balloon strafer he had no equal and he seemed to take a 
keen delight in this most dangerous of aviation combats. His plan of 
attack was simple. A German balloon would be located and Luke, 
with several other pilots, would climb into the clouds and when at 
a point above the balloon he would dive out of the clouds, followed 
part way down by the rest of the formation, whose particular part 
would be to start a "dog fight," with the Fokkers protecting the 
balloon. 

Luke would continue his nose dive regardless of the archies that 
would by this time be sprinkling the air with their shrapnel souvenirs. 
When within a few hundred feet of the victim he would let go a 
burst of incendiary bullets. Immediately there would be a flash of 
flame skywards; two figures would shoot earthward and two para- 
chutes would gracefully open up like a lady's fan — the show would 
be over quicker than it takes to tell it. Luke would immediately zoom 
up and join the "dog fight" if it still continued, but generally it would 
be over by the time he gained the same altitude, one side or the other 
having been defeated. 

Luke's greatest feat and one that probably will never be equalled, 
was on September 18th when he brought down three planes and two 
balloons in twelve minutes. Most of Luke's victories were shared by 
pilots in his flight who held off" the Fokkers while Luke got the bal- 
loons. The officer who teamed with Luke and who shares the most 
victories with him is 1st Lieut. Jos. F. Wehner, 27th Aero Squad- 
ron, of Lynn, Mass., who has to his credit seven balloons and two 
planes — Lieut. Wehner has since been shot down, the last seen of him 
was on September 18th fighting five Fokkers while protecting Luke. 



184 AN EXPLORER 

In the operations office of the First Pursuit Group, to which 
Luke belonged, is a large piece of cardboard fastened on the wall, at 
the top printed in one inch letters are the words: "Hall of Fame," 
and underneath are the names of the pilots who have brought down 
one or more German planes or balloons. After each name is a small 
facsimile of an iron cross, each cross meaning a victory. There are 
eighteen of these crosses after Luke's name. They were placed there 
in the short space of seventeen days, another record that will prob- 
ably never be equalled. 

The last heard of Lieut. Luke was on September 29th, when he 
dropped a note to an American Balloon Squadron stationed near 
Verdun, which read: "Watch for burning balloons." Shortly after- 
wards two German balloons were seen to go up in flames. Luke did 
not return; he was entirely alone on his last expedition; no one saw 
him go down and how he came to his end will probably never be 
known. The official record reads as follows: 

"Second Lieutenant Frank Luke, Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., 27th Aero 
Squadron, First Pursuit Group. Record: 14 balloons, 4 planes. 
Missing since Sept., '18." 

We often had occasion to remind our students of the fact 
that Luke had had considerable difficulty in the first part 
of the course, and had been sent back once or twice for 
failing to satisfy his instructors. He was the kind, however, 
whom nothing could discourage, and he would take every 
opportunity to secure all the instruction and practice in 
flying that could possibly be obtained. 

The Plane News was particularly useful in the trying 
days after the fighting had ceased. One of the schemes it 
helped to develop in order to make time pass more rapidly 
was thus described : 




Field 9's Team in the Plane Assembling- Competition 
End of Part I, Wings removed and /lacked Plane ready for shifiment 



on truck 




Plane Assembling Competition 
Field 8's Team half through Part II, reassembling the Plane 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 185 

A new sport, one that can be played only on a flying field, sprang 
into popularity here last Saturday when teams of airplane mechanics, 
working against time, demonstrated to a huge crowd on the Main 
Field, just how fast an airplane can be dis-assembled and subsequently 
completely rigged ready for the pilot. 

The initial contest created keen enthusiasm and the rooters cheered 
the workers on their work with the same spirit that fans encourage 
the progress of baseball, football and track teams. The interest created 
is especially gratifying as this combination of work and play had not 
been tried out before. The contest also demonstrated how fast Amer- 
ican Airplane Mechanics can work, as the slowest team finished in 
better time than it was anticipated would be necessary for the winning 
team. 

The ship used for the initial contest was the Nieuport, type 27, 
with a 120 horse power Le Rhone motor. 

Too much credit can not be given the men comprising the com- 
petitive teams, whether they be of the winning one or the last to finish, 
for the "pep" displayed and particularly the ingenuity in tools and 
special equipment used as time savers — as all sorts of jigs and special 
tools were to be seen. Inquiry of the engineering officers of the various 
fields brought out the facts that they were the tools regularly used on 
the fields and were the results of the ideas of the mechanics engaged 
in different work. Nothing in the way of tools being furnished by the 
government for this work, it being up to the mechanics themselves 
to design and make tools to save time, and the results of Saturday's 
contest speak only too eloquently as to how they have met the 
emergency. 

The contest was won by the team from Field Eight, composed of 
the following : 

Ship Crew — Sergeants First Class Harry F. Woodring and 
Chas. F. Poison, Corporal Harry Bearcroft and Privates First Class 
Michael Dolphin and Frank L. Lacher. Motor Crew — Sergeants 
Aaron I. Rose, Bernard J. Gorman and Henry R. Clark. 



186 AN EXPLORER 

Total time consumed for the four operations was 977s minutes. 
This includes the penalization of l 1 / 6 minutes on the first operation. 

The second team was that of Assembly and Test, composed of the 
following: 

Ship Crew — Sergeants First Class C. Winkler, C. W. Misfelt 
and T. W. Reardon and Sergeants R. W. Lyon and A. J. John- 
ston. Motor Crew — Sergeant First Class G. W. Puryear, Sergeant 
R. S. Johnson and Corporal F. R. Moore. 

Time was 103 minutes for the four operations. 

Third to finish was Field Five, teams comprising the following : 

Ship Crew — Sergeants First Class Jesse Parcell and Albert 
Busk and Sergeants Frederick Gordon, Chester Tidland and John 
Downey. Motor Crew — Sergeants First Class Theodore Holmes 
and Wm. H. McMahon and Sergeant Bueren Manwiller. 

Time 104 minutes. 

The total operation of which time is given above, was composed 
of four separate operations. First being that of disassembling the ship, 
lashing the wings to the side of the fuselage ready for transporting. 
Second operation, that of reassembling the ship, lining same ready 
for flight, safetying all bolts, nuts and turnbuckles so that it would 
pass inspection. These two operations were done by what we have 
called "Ship Crews," composed of five men. The third and fourth 
operations were, namely, the taking out of the motor, and installing 
of the motor in the ship, including starting of same. This was handled 
by what we have called "Motor Crews," composed of three men. 

The following is a table of figures showing the time taken by dif- 
ferent crews for the different operations, and it will be interesting to 
note that it was anyone's contest up until the last moment: 

First Operation — Second Operation — 

Field Fourteen, 13 minutes. Assembly and Test, 25 minutes. 

Field Eight, 13V 2 minutes. Field Seven, 31 4 / 5 minutes. 

Field Seven, 15 minutes. Field Eight, 37 1 / 2 minutes. 

Field Five, 37 f s minutes. 




Plane Assembling Competition 
Part II, reassembling the Plane 




Plane Assembling Competition 
Emd of Part III, taking oat the motor 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 187 

Third Operation — Fourth Operation — 

Aero Repair, 13 4 / 6 minutes. Field Five, 29 2 / 5 minutes. 

Field Eight, 15 1 / 2 minutes. Field Eight, 31 minutes. 

Field Fourteen, 18 2 / 5 minutes. Assembly and Test, 33 4 / 5 minutes. 
Field Five, 18 4 /b minutes. 

The second contest of the series will be staged this afternoon on 
the Main Field with Nieuport 23-meter planes, equipped with 80 
horse power Le Rhone motors. Cash prizes of 200 francs for the first 
and 100 francs for the team second under the wire will be given by 
the Plane News. The Plane Nexus also has provided for the purchase 
of banners for the winners. 

The second contest aroused keen competition, and further 
reductions were made in the time for the four operations. 
The sporting editor of the Plane News wrote this report : 

Spurred by the presence of a large crowd and two bands, the 
Main Field and Field 7 organizations, 300 francs prize money and the 
desire to hang up a record, Air Service mechanics staged a real sporty 
exhibition of the new sport of disassembling and assembling an aero- 
plane on the Main Field Saturday afternoon. 

Minutes were clipped off the records made on the previous con- 
test and it is believed that the winners ran up a record for 23-meter 
Nieuports that will stand for some time to come. The increasing num- 
ber of ingenious tools which have been made by the different crews 
were quite noticeable. There were very few penalties considering the 
time taken for the entire four operations and all expectations have 
been surpassed. There is no doubt that the Airnatsof this center would 
be able to hold their own against any and all competition. 

Results of Saturday's contest are as follows: 

First — Field Two A, 1 hour 2 minutes 40 seconds. 
Second — Field Seven, 1 hour 7 minutes 10 seconds. 
Third — Aero Repair, 1 hour 8 minutes 45 seconds. 



188 AN EXPLORER 

Probably the most remarkable thing to take place in the way of 
fast workmanship was in the third operation, where the Aero Repair 
took out the motor in 11 minutes. 

The Field 2 A team which won the first prize of 200 francs 
donated by the Plane News was composed of the following men: 
Sgts. Marson, Brindell, Rust, Pierce, McFadden and Cpls. Hawn, 
Dotson, and Muhler. Field 7's team which won the second prize of 
100 francs was composed of men from the 37th, 640th, and 173rd 
Squadrons; M. E. Cambell, Sgts. Bowman, Barbee, Peck, Yepsen, 
Phelps and Chauffeurs Hamilton and Lewis. 

Before closing this brief account of the activities under- 
taken by the Plane News, I must give one more of its inter- 
esting stories about Issoudun. 

The bravery and daring of American aviators is not confined to 
active service at the front, as the following remarkable experience of 
a student pilot at this advanced training center will prove : The moni- 
teur was giving instructions, and upon the day the accident occurred, 
the moniteur, as usual, rose in the air ahead of the pilot, who fol- 
lowed, and the two planes quickly sought an altitude of 5000 feet. 
Then began a series of manoeuvers, the moniteur demonstrating for 
the benefit of his student. The Lieut, suddenly dove at the instructor, 
expecting him to get out of his line of flight. Through some miscal- 
culation or misjudgment of distance, the moniteur held his plane 
too near the diving plane, and the engine head of the student's plane 
collided with his wings. With one wing crushed, and with such force 
of momentum that it was impossible to gain even a fraction of con- 
trol, the moniteur's plane dropped like a stone to the earth, result- 
ing in the instant death of the instructor. 

A peculiar feature of the accident was the cutting of the engine's 
festenings of the student's plane to such an extent that the engine 
dropped from its place and fell to the ground. The result was the 
destruction of anv resemblance of balance, and the plane wobbled 




Plane Assembling Competition 
Beginning of Part IV, putting the motor back in position 




Plane Assembling Competition 

Cheering the winning Team from Field 14. The riggers of this Team in 

the foreground, having finished their work, Parts land II, are watching 

the motor mechanics complete Part IV 






IN THE AIR SERVICE 189 

uncertainly on unsteady wings. Seeing and grasping the situation in- 
stantly, the pilot steadied the plane against a probable fall by shift- 
ing his body so as to counter the loss of balance and so succeeded in 
keeping the plane on a fairly even keel. Then started a series of glides 
controlled by the shifting of the weight of his body, that for cool- 
ness and daring have few parallels. 

Seizing a moment when the plane rode at an even keel, the stu- 
dent mounted quickly upon the fuselage at full length and again 
steadying the machine, he started his descent to the ground, with no 
control except the weight of his body against a counter inclination of 
the unbalanced plane to flutter into a fall. Any panic or nervousness 
upon his part would have resulted in death, and knowing this and 
realizing that the odds were heavily against him the lieutenant manip- 
ulated the controls of the plane, and worked his bodily balance con- 
trol as calmly as if he was ten feet from the earth. The ground gradu- 
ally shaped into a recognizable view, and with his admirable coolness 
the lieutenant glided to earth with a landing worthy of a finished 
pilot. The remarkable nerve and firm determination of the pilot had 
won the day — and saved his life. 

The whole daring performance had been observed by the pilot 
of another plane which had followed the wounded plane downwards, 
unable to give the slightest aid. The pilot of the second plane was 
wearer of the Croix de Guerre and had fought air battles at the front 
where scenes of reckless daring and paramount bravery were com- 
monplace to him, but he later stated that the feat of the student pilot 
was one of the most remarkable for coolness and bravery that he 
had ever witnessed. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT 

TO the average person, a flying school is a place where 
flying is taught, but to the enlisted man on duty at 
a flying school, it is a place where wrecked planes are 
continually being repaired. Young pilots are always mak- 
ing errors in judgment that result sometimes in damage to 
themselves, but more often in damage to the airplane. 

Crashes that occurred on the airdromes of outlying fields 
were taken care of by the engineering department of the 
field concerned. Those that occurred on cross-country flights 
or in the area between the fields, and which had to be ren- 
dered first-aid by our field servicedepartment, were brought 
in to the main field and turned over to the aero repair de- 
partment, under the direction of Captain Duncan Dana. 
If the crashed plane proved to be a total wreck, it was care- 
fully salvaged, all the precious bolts and screws that were 
so hard to obtain in France during war times were rescued, 
and everything, that could be used again was turned into 
the supply stores from which planes were rebuilt. 

In the airplane repair shops, work was repeatedly held 
up through lack of raw material. Dope and cloth for the 
wings, well-seasoned spruce, ash and laminated wood, glue, 
sheet aluminum, steel cables for wing bracing, paint, and 
varnish were often unobtainable for weeks at a time. In par- 
ticular, the only glue we could secure for long periods was 
of very poor grade and not waterproof. Furthermore, the 
shortage of airplane spare parts was so serious at all times, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 191 

and the difficulties of procuring them from the French 
manufacturers were so tremendous, that it was only by 
making these parts from such raw material as could be ob- 
tained and constantly using old parts of crashed airplanes 
that sufficient material was secured to keep the planes 
repaired. 

There was an excellent wood-working shop in which 
spare parts for machines of all types could be turned out. 
Spars, struts, and longerons were made for all types of 
planes. Wings were entirely rebuilt, landinggears,or under- 
carriages, as the English called them, were constructed out 
of partly new and partly salvaged materials. Altogether, our 
central repair shop was able to rebuild and turn out "as 
good as new" more than twenty airplanes every week. Our 
engineer officers estimated that this shop saved the Govern- 
ment more than $100,000 a week through its skill in manu- 
facturing planes and spares out of salvaged materials and 
from a limited supply of spruce sent from the United States. 

One of the departments which always interested our vis- 
itors was the propeller repair shop. There is nothing on an 
airplane which must be more exactly balanced and more 
carefully made than a propeller. "Props" represent a high 
degree of very skilled labor. At the same time they are 
extremely vulnerable and subject to constant breakage. A 
bad landing frequently causes a plane to stand on its nose 
or capsize. In either case the propeller is almost sure to be 
broken. A forced landing on soft ground, no matter how 
skilfully the pilot may bring his plane to earth, is likely to 



192 AN EXPLORER 

mean a somersault because the wheels cannot run fast enough 
over the soft ground to accommodate the forward motion of 
the plane. This means another propeller gone. In starting 
off from a muddy field — and all fields in France are muddy 
during a good part of the year — a certain amount of mud is 
thrown up from the under-carriage. If this strikes the rap- 
idly revolving propeller, it is almost sure to nick it in such 
a way as to make the plane vibrate. There must be a new 
"prop." Even the celebrated Rickenbacker mud-guards, 
which were invented by the first engineer officer of the 
school, who later became our Ace of Aces, failed to prevent 
all danger from this source, although enormously reducing 
propeller fatalities. 

Broken propellers had always heretofore been regarded 
as of no further service. Since a propeller costs from $200 
up, it can be readily seen that here was a source of great 
expense. At Issoudun, however, it had meant more than ex- 
pense. Propellers simply could not be bought in sufficient 
quantities to provide for the enormous loss due to those 
muddy, rock-strewn fields. Accordingly, during Colonel 
Kilner's regime, every broken propeller had been carefully 
saved and the wood used to patch those which were not 
damaged too seriously. Provided two-thirds of a blade was 
left practically intact, our skilled workmen had learned how 
to replace the other third, and to do it in such a way as to 
make that part of the propeller stronger than it had been 
before. In fact, it was the proud boast of the sergeant in 
charge of this shop that some "props" had come back eight 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 193 

or ten times to be repaired, but that the damage had never 
occurred in the place which he had mended, but always at 
a new point. About twenty-five propellers were turned out 
of this shop every day as good as new. The saving here 
to the Government was rarely less than $25,000 a week. 
The men took great pride in the circumstance that for many 
months this was the only flying school that was able to save 
large amounts of money in this way. 

Oil that had been fouled by usage in the motors, and 
which in the old days would have been thrown away, was 
collected and used in our little foundry as fuel with which 
to melt aluminum. This enabled us to cast new pistons at 
a time when they were unobtainable in the market. Not 
only pistons, but many other things were made in this 
little foundry, including piston pins, piston rings, bush- 
ings, etc. 

The motor repair department, under the very efficient 
management of Captain Charles W. Babcock, maintained 
a wonderful record. There was practically never a time 
when flying had to be postponed for want of a reliable motor. 
Most of our motors were Le Rhone 80's and 120's. Their 
normal life was forty or fifty hours of flight. After a motor 
had had fifty hours in the air, it was taken out of the plane 
and sent to the machine shop for a thorough overhauling. 
It was completely stripped, every part carefully gone over 
and cleaned, new parts substituted if necessary, and an effort 
made to rebuild the motor as good as new. After reassem- 
bling, it was sent out to the test department and thoroughly 



194 AN EXPLORER 

tested. Careful records were kept each day of the progress 
of motors through the shop, and the men took particular 
pleasure in striving to better these records. Shortly before 
the Armistice was signed, 119 motors were turned out of 
the shop completely overhauled in one week. This week's 
work included eight Liberty motors and one Hispano Suiza, 
in addition to one hundred and ten Le Rhones. 

Work in the motor repair and machine shop had been 
delayed at the start by the presence of unintelligent and 
insufficiently instructed personnel, and by the absence of an 
adequate supply of spare parts. The manufacture of spare 
parts was hindered by the fact that wire, steel, and sheet 
metals could only be obtained in very small quantities and 
with extreme difficulty. At the time of my arrival the 
machine shop was doing well, and there was less complaint 
of the character of enlisted personnel. The system of or- 
ganizing squadrons in the United States was at first espe- 
cially poor. Men with absolutely no qualifications as me- 
chanics were listed on the squadron organization as tin- 
smiths, copper smiths, and expert motor mechanics, although 
in civil life they had been salesmen, clerks, and farmhands. 
One mechanic's qualification was having "driven a Ford 
occasionally." Men were rated as expert machinists whose 
only experience with machinery consisted in feeding stock 
into one end of an automatic machine and pulling the fin- 
ished product out at the other end. Such poor and super- 
ficial methods of trade testing had been used that it had 
been necessary at Issoudun to reclassify squadrons in their 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 195 

entirety, and to organize courses of instruction and training 
for men who had been rated as experts in their lines, but 
who had no real conception of the fundamental principles 
of the trade they professed. The men were anxious to learn, 
however, and by the middle of 1918 were very proficient. 
As time went on, the enlisted personnel arriving from the 
United States improved as a result of the better training 
received in America or England. 

The sheet metal department was kept busy preparing gas 
tanks and cowls. We had a great deal of trouble with the 
tanks in the French planes. The straining incidental to 
acrobatic flying frequently caused them to leak. Turning 
an airplane upon its nose often damages not only the pro- 
pellers, but also the cowl or hood of the engine. 

A large part of the flying in an advanced school of this 
sort must be done at a sufficient elevation to enable the pilot 
who accidentally stalls and gets into a spinning nose dive 
to come out of it safely. Consequently altimeters were in 
great demand, and were difficult to secure. Our instrument 
department was constantly repairing those we had, and also 
standardizing the tachometers or revolution counters, on 
which the young pilots depended in such large measure for 
their safety. An old experienced pilot hardly needs a " rev. 
counter " to tell him whether his motor is turning up as it 
should. But an inexperienced pilot must never leave the 
ground without assuring himself by means of this delicate 
instrument that his power plant is going to be able to get 
him safely over the trees. 



196 AN EXPLORER 

It was also continually necessary to repair magnetos and 
to rebuild spark plugs. In one week in October our shop 
turned out 143 magnetos and 2140 spark plugs. 

Rough landings also caused great damage to the landing 
gear. Sometimes the pneumatic tires were the only things 
to suffer. Then again the wheels themselves would give way 
under the effects of a bad "pancake." Our shops did not 
allow this to interfere with flying, however, and in one 
week we turned out as many as 290 wheels and 350 newly 
vulcanized tires. In this way our mechanics enabled us to 
overcome the difficulty of purchasing supplies and the 
delays incident to transportation over submarine-infested 
waters. 

One of the greatest difficulties faced by our repair and 
supply departments was the wide variety of our machines. 
This had been rendered necessary by the scarcity of the 
most desirable types and our determination to use anything 
that would fly. It was hard to keep all in commission. At 
the close of the day, September 9, 1918, out of 1002 ma- 
chines on hand there were only 519 in commission. For the 
important combat work at Field 8, more than two-thirds of 
the planes were out of commission. On Field 7, considerably 
over half were in the hospital. Yet the training on these two 
fields was of enormous importance, and required the fastest 
and best machines. The demand from the Front that we 
turn out pilots during October was greater than at any other 
time during the history of the school. It will be remembered 
that we broke the best previous flying record by over 5000 



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IN THE AIR SERVICE 197 

hours during this month. Yet so efficient was our engineer- 
ing department under the able leadership of Major Victor 
Page, that on October 20, Field 8 had less than one-third 
out of commission, while Field 7 had 99 machines in com- 
mission and only 6 out of commission. Out of a total of 979 
machines, there were 628 in commission — an improve- 
ment of more than 100. Of course, after the Armistice we 
were able to improve this record because it was not neces- 
sary to push the training at such speed. On the last day of 
November, out of 1109 machines then on our books, there 
were 951 that needed no repairs. Field 8 had 54 machines 
in commission — 17 in repair; Field 7, 134 machines in 
commission and only one undergoing repair ; Field 5 had 
113 in commission and not one out of commission. I mention 
these fields particularly because they used the lightest and 
most delicate types of planes, and it had always been very 
difficult to keep them sufficiently supplied with flying ma- 
terial. This fine record was due largely to the extraordinarily 
good morale among the enlisted men on these three fields, 
who responded eagerly to the splendid leadership of Captain 
Street, Captain Davis, and Captain Wingate. 

Great credit should be given to the officers and men of 
the engineering department for their unfailing devotion to 
duty, for the ingenuity they developed in inventing new 
tools, devising new processes, and meeting emergencies as 
they arose. Major Page, who had long been a recognized 
authority on internal combustion motors, and who came to 
be acknowledged as the best aeronautical engineer in France, 



198 AN EXPLORER 

was able to instil great enthusiasm in his staff. His expert 
knowledge gave them confidence in his judgment, while his 
tireless energy and fearless honesty inspired them with a 
determination to double their efforts. 



CHAPTER XVII 

IMPORTANT ACCESSORIES 

A FLYING School needs more than repair shops. It 
. requires a Test Department, Supplies, Doctors, Let- 
ters from Home, and the ministrations of the Red Cross. 

After a new airplane arrived from the manufacturers and 
had been assembled, or after a rebuilt plane had been sent 
out from the aero repair shops, or whenever a flyer found 
fault with his plane and claimed it was not fit to fly, it was 
immediately turned over to one of the officers of the test de- 
partment. This department, organized under Captain (later 
Major) W. M. Conant, Jr., stood between the engineering 
department and the training, or flying, department. The 
testers had to be not only expert flyers, but born mechanics 
with an intuition for "trouble shooting." 

It was frequently their duty to take up types of planes 
that they had never flown before. It was their every-day duty 
to be the first to decide by experiment whether a plane would 
fly, and whether it had been carefully constructed. Of course, 
they first determined by visual inspection that the plane 
had been properly put together, was properly rigged, and 
appeared to be safe for flight. But they then had to deter- 
mine by actual flight whether the plane would fly according 
to the high standards maintained by their department. 

Captain Conant had a remarkable record. He had flown 
every type of ship at the school and had never made a poor 
landing, although many times obliged to make forced land- 
ings. At the Front he would have had a wonderful record 



200 AN EXPLORER 

as an Ace, but he cheerfully accepted the inevitable fate of 
being obliged to utilize his skill in making the training of 
aviators as safe, and the planes as mechanically perfect, as 
possible. Like Captain Austin and so many of our best 
pilots, he sacrificed fame for greater service. 

One of his permanent occupations was looking for new 
testers to meet the needs of the constantly growing school. 
He looked for men who seemed to possess the flying instinct 
and whose ability was natural rather than mechanical. He 
insisted that his testers be thoroughly familiar with aero- 
dynamics, and at the same time have a large amount of 
practical common sense. As a result of his skill in selecting 
men, the testers of Issoudun came to be known as a body 
of extremely hard-working pilots, cool, finished, accom- 
plished flyers, who had absolutely no fear of the air, and to 
whom stunt flying was merely one of the easiest ways of 
determining whether a plane was fit to fly. In fact, no plane 
was O.K.'d for flying until a tester had put it through various 
severe manoeuvres and determined that it was mechanically 
ready for the use of student pilots. 

To the test department was due the credit for the fact 
that so few students at Issoudun lost their lives through 
mechanical defects in our airplanes. The very severe strains 
brought to bear on planes engaged in combat practice on 
Field 8 were occasionally responsible for accidents that oc- 
curred after a considerable period in the air, and in flying 
for several periods after the test department had O.K.'d the 
ship. Otherwise, no one was killed by a faulty plane. It was, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 201 

of course, impossible for the testers to make sure that each 
of the thousand or more planes at the school were O.K.'d 
before each flight, but in the case of newly assembled planes, 
or those newly repaired after being damaged or reported as 
not flying properly, their skill in inspection and testing left 
nothing to be desired. 

After the Armistice was signed and the necessity of 
rushing our finished product through at the highest pos- 
sible speed was eliminated, orders were given that the test 
department should make frequent inspections of all ships 
brought out to the lines for flying, and check up on the 
inspection made by the local officer in charge of flying. 
There were no enlisted mechanics in the test department. 
It was composed entirely of officers who ranked as inspec- 
tors, and who pointed out to the engineering officers or their 
representatives the faults that needed to be remedied. It 
had been the custom in the past for the testers to be a branch 
of the engineering department and under the control of the 
Chief Aeronautical Engineer. I came to believe, however, 
that it was better policy for them to belong to a separate 
department and for the Chief Tester to be on a parity with 
both the Officer in Charge of Flying and the Chief Engineer. 

It must always be borne in mind that an aeronautical 
engineering department likes to keep up a high record of 
performance in turning out rebuilt motors and planes. It 
must also be borne in mind that a training or flying de- 
partment likes to break records in the amount of flying 
done and the number of students graduated. Consequently, 



202 AN EXPLORER 

it is of particular importance that a department, whose sole 
interest is to see that accidents do not occur from mechanical 
defects, should come with power between these two depart- 
ments and prevent the acceptance by the flying depart- 
ment of any machine that had been repaired too hastily, or 
the continued flying of any machine of which a student 
complains. 

Every one who came to visit Issoudun was shown our aero 
supply warehouses, in which we all took the greatest pos- 
sible amount of pride. Organized by Captain H. B. Close, 
they were improved and extended by Lieutenant (later 
Captain) Selmer J. Tilleson. We were obliged to use so 
many different types of planes, and to have on hand such 
a very great variety of aeronautical supplies, that if Lieu- 
tenant Tilleson had not succeeded always in being able to 
find the desired article, no one could have blamed him. 
But to keep hundreds of thousands of spare parts, listed 
under more than 30,000 separate headings, in stock and 
always be able to locate any one of them at a moment's 
notice and to tell exactly how many had been on hand the 
day before, was an achievement that deserved extraordinary 
commendation. Fortunately, we had no Handley Pages, for 
a single Handley Page airplane is itself composed of 100,000 
parts ; but we did have seventeen types of Nieuports, four 
types of Morane monoplanes, three types of Spads, besides 
sundry Sopwiths, Caudrons, Voisins, and Avros, and the 
American DH-4. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Tilleson's ware- 
houses were models of neatness and orderly arrangement, 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 203 

which evoked the envious admiration of other supply 
officers. 

One of our principal difficulties was in securing a suffi- 
cient supply of gasoline. It was a considerable time before 
the army officers who controlled the distribution of gaso- 
line tank cars came to a proper realization of our needs. 
The fact that they had sent us four tank cars, each con- 
taining 6000 gallons of gasoline, "less than ten days ago" 
seemed to them a sufficient answer to our wail that we 
should "have to stop cross-country flying this afternoon 
on account of lack of gas" unless more was immediately 
received. They finally learned that on good days we fre- 
quently did more than 1000 hours of flying, that each hour 
of flying meant from 12 to 20 gallons of gasoline, depend- 
ing upon the type of motor used, and that the multiplica- 
tion table proved that we were likely to use up more than 
two tank cars every good day. Captain Leo Sack, our 
efficient liaison officer, was fortunately very convincing and 
most persistent. When his friends finally mastered this 
problem, and grasped what it meant to keep one thousand 
airplanes supplied with power, we had no more trouble. 

We sometimes felt that the supply officers in Paris did 
not treat us as generously as they ought, considering the 
fact that we could not furnish pilots as fast as they were 
needed at the Front unless we had the equipment with 
which to do it. They were much nearer to the Front than 
they were to our school, however, and they naturally felt 
that the demands of the Front for machines and spare parts 



204 AN EXPLORER 

should take precedence over ours. In general, we agreed with 
them, but on one point, namely, our supply of Spads, we al- 
ways felt they were mistaken. If they had supplied us with 
an adequate quantity of the machines which were actually 
in use at the Front, we could have taught our pilots to avoid 
many of the mistakes which caused the extraordinary de- 
struction of Spads in the fighting area. However, we never 
succeeded in persuading them of the value of this invest- 
ment. Spads were destroyed at the Front so rapidly that 
there was never any surplus left to send to the schools, so 
that our pilots did not receive their final instruction in the 
planes which they were actually to use in pursuit squad- 
rons until they had left the school and reached active squad- 
rons where fighting rather than teaching was the principal 
matter in hand. Naturally, they crashed a good many, and 
in a region not as well equipped with repair shops as the 
Third Aviation Instruction Centre. We should have been 
allowed at least twenty-five out of the hundreds that were 
secured from the French. 

Intermediate Quartermaster Depot No. 5 was located 
on our main field, and was in charge of Major Charles W. 
Godfrey. His experience in successfully feeding thousands 
of troops in New England during the first year of the war, 
when he was in the Commissary Branch at Boston, stood 
him in good stead. He came to us at a time when provi- 
sions were very difficult to secure. The needs of our rapidly 
growing army at the Front had to be met first, as was right 
and proper, but that did not make it any easier for the hard- 




Issoudun: The Main Barracks, the "/"," the Red Cross 
and the Quartermaster buildings 




Issoudun: Foreground: Our prize bakery, where the Q.M. turned out 
10,000 loaves ofjine white bread daily 

Next to the bakery are the Q. M. warehouses. In the distance, at the left 
the Hos/iital, at the right Headquarters 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 205 

working mechanic in our shops and hangars to go hungry, 
or to be denied the regular supplies of food and clothing as 
laid down in army regulations. 

Major Godfrey, by his wonderful enthusiasm and self- 
sacrificing attention to the smallest details, and also by his 
willingness to risk official displeasure in order to accom- 
plish ends which he felt were justified by the needs of our 
soldiers, made us all have a high regard for the Quarter- 
master Department. He took an intense and personal in- 
terest in seeing that the Mess Sergeants made a proper use of 
Government rations, that the cooks understood how to con- 
serve fuel and at the same time get good results with field 
ranges, and that his own bakery, which turned out 10,000 
loaves of excellent bread daily, should have every facility 
that it deserved. He also saw to it that the men were well 
shod. Commanding officers of outlying fields found to their 
surprise and delight that the rules which our Quartermaster 
found it necessary to make were intended to give them the 
best possible service, and that whenever these rules worked 
hardship, a word from them resulted in prompt changes. 

Major Godfrey's first ride in an airplane was at night 
with one of the most daring pilots of our night pursuit 
group. He seemed to feel that his experience was not as en- 
viable as some of us thought it ought to be. He never was 
quite sure whether the twinkling lights which he saw in the 
darkness were stars or camp lights. He insisted that it was 
really very thrilling, and we did not doubt him, for we knew 
the pilot. 



206 AN EXPLORER 

When an aviator has been given a properly tested ma- 
chine, well fitted with gas and oil, when he is suitably 
clothed, fed, paid, and housed, he thinks he is ready to fly. 
Generally, he forgets the importance of medical attendance 
until "something happens." Camp Hospital No. 14 was 
located in the main camp. It was under the direction of 
Major William G. Noe, who was in command of an ade- 
quate force of surgeons and enlisted men, but who was 
inadequately supplied with army nurses and ambulances. 
There were some 500 beds in the hospital. At the time 
of my arrival, about one-third of them were occupied by 
wounded or gassed soldiers from the Chateau -Thierry 
sector. 

When the "flu "epidemic struck us, strenuous efforts were 
made to combat its spread. Our barracks, like those all over 
France, were greatly crowded. The men slept in bunks 
built in sections of four, two men sleeping on the upper 
tier and two on the lower. Orders were given that bunk- 
mates must sleep head to foot, and not side by side. This 
immediately lowered the rate of new cases, since no man, 
by coughing at night, could infect his bunkie. Rigid rules 
were enforced regarding keeping barrack windows open 
in all sorts of weather. Buckets of water were kept on the 
stoves so as to provide a moist atmosphere, the use of com- 
mon drinking-cups was forbidden, and men were sent to 
the hospital as soon as they gave signs of having a cold. 
During the worst of the epidemic, we were admitting to the 
hospital from sixty to seventy -five new cases a day; but so 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 207 

skilfully did our medical officers handle the situation, that 
out of a camp containing over 7000 men, we lost only thirty 
as the effects of the "flu." 

It was a most fortunate circumstance for my adminis- 
tration of the Third Aviation Instruction Centre that Colonel 
William H. Wilmer and his Medical Research Board ar- 
rived from the United States early in September. I will admit 
that when a telephone message came from the Assistant 
Provost Marshal at Issoudun railway station announcing 
the arrival there of a "dozen Staff Officers," visions of a 
visitation from G. H. Q. for purposes of inspection filled me 
with dismay. I had been in command of the post only about 
a week or ten days, yet I realized how many adverse criti- 
cisms could be made, and I wished that these General Staff 
Officers had postponed their visit until a little later. When 
our new arrivals turned out to be Colonel Wilmer and his 
staff, dismay was changed to delight, as every one will real- 
ize who had an opportunity to become acquainted with that 
most distinguished member of the medical profession and 
his friends. 

In the United States it had been found advisable to appoint 
so-called "flight surgeons" at each of the flying schools. 
These men had been carefully trained in the pioneer labo- 
ratories at Mineola and were familiar with the latest results 
of research into the physiology and psychology of the pilot. 
Not only did they learn the effects of thin air on his reactions 
and what might be expected to happen to any individ- 
ual pilot through lack of sufficient oxygen, but they also had 



208 AN EXPLORER 

studied most thoroughly the special physical characteristics 
of those who found it difficult or impossible to learn to fly. 
Many of the specialists who had taught these flight sur- 
geons were on the Medical Research Board which was now 
established at our camp. They came provided with the very 
latest apparatus, and with special instruments intended to 
facilitate the physiological determination of a student's apti- 
tude for aviation. 

Two members of the Board were asked to serve on all 
investigations connected with serious accidents to our pilots. 
Their skill and knowledge soon brought out the fact that 
the majority of accidents were caused by defects in the phy- 
sical condition of the pilots. To be sure, a number of acci- 
dents are always traceable to apparent disobedience to or- 
ders. Sometimes the disobedience is direct and unequivocal, 
as when two brilliant pilots, arriving in the course of their 
instruction at the combat field, decide to disobey instructions 
and, disregarding all caution, display their ability by com- 
bating at a low elevation. This experiment sometimes re- 
sulted disastrously. 

On the other hand, there is another type of disobedience 
of orders which is due to physical condition rather than to 
moral or mental delinquency. This arises when a pilot is 
told to go to a certain altitude, stall his machine into a spin- 
ning nose dive, and then put all of his controls into neutral. 
If these instructions are obeyed, the airplane automatically 
comes out of the spin and into a steep straight glide from 
which the pilot can easily proceed to recover control with- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 209 

out endangering himself or his ship. Occasionally, however, 
it was apparent to the instructors that the pilot disregarded 
his orders and failed to put his controls into neutral, thereby 
causing the plane to stay in the spin until it crashed to the 
ground. 

The experiments of the Medical Research Board, and 
particularly those conducted by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry 
Horn, demonstrated with unerring fidelity that those pilots 
who reacted improperly after being spun in a swivel chair 
were physically unable to carry out their instructions. When 
they attempted to thrust the joy stick forward into a neutral 
position, they actually pushed it to one side so that the aile- 
ron controls were not in neutral. On the other hand, Colonel 
Horn discovered by a thorough examination of our best 
pilots, including those who by reason of their great skill 
had been chosen as instructors or as testers of new machines, 
that they were able to react perfectly to the tests of the whirl- 
ing chair. Not only did they overcome the effects of this 
dizziness in one-third or one-half the time required by an 
average person (and thereby place themselves in the class 
of whirling dervishes), they also had no difficulty in imme- 
diately putting the controls in neutral, notwithstanding the 
effects of a prolonged spinning in the chair. 

So firmly did I believe in the ability of the Research 
Board to prevent accidents due to inherent defects in the 
physique of the aviator, that instructions were given to 
place in the hands of incoming pilots an article by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Rowntree, who was Colonel Wilmer's right- 



210 AN EXPLORER 

hand man. This article urged frequent consultation of the 
Medical Research Board by flyers who were feeling ill, or 
"not feeling fit," or feeling insecure in their work, or when 
their flying records were poor, or after an accident. Instruc- 
tors were directed to consult the Board whenever they saw 
that their students were in one of the above classes, or when- 
ever they themselves desired information as to the type of 
work for which a flyer was best suited, so far as this could 
be determined by physical examination. 

Considering how many delays the flying cadets had suf- 
fered in the past and how many handicaps they had had 
to overcome in their efforts to get to the Front speedily, it 
was not surprising that some of them regarded the Med- 
ical Research Board with suspicion. They soon came to 
realize, however, that it was the object of Colonel Wilmer 
and his colleagues, especially the flight surgeon, Major R. 
R. Hampton, to assist pilots to become more efficient, and 
not to remove them from the flying list. 

We all of us came to the conclusion that it was not fair 
either for the army or for the pilot himself, that he should 
assume unnecessary risks. Ordinary risks were great enough 
in all conscience, but the danger was much increased when 
those attempted to fly who were not fit. We endeavored to 
impress on our pilots the fact that they could not expect to 
be successful in the air unless they kept themselves lit. They 
were urged to go to bed early and to get at least eight hours 
of sleep. We made every effort to see that all pilots took some 
physical exercise daily. Although the flyer is out of doors a 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 211 

great deal, his occupation is actually a sedentary one, and far 
more fatiguing to his nerves than to his body, so it was all 
the more important to encourage outdoor sports. Each field 
commander was requested to report at officers' meeting each 
day how much exercise had been taken in the preceding 
twenty -four hours by the pilots under his command. It was 
significant that the fields which did the best work found 
the most time for exercise, or took it in the most violent form. 

Colonel Rowntree reported that a large number of flyers 
consulted the Board for digestive disturbances. The ladies 
of the American Red Cross also reported that the instruc- 
tors who flew a great deal seemed to be frequently "off" their 
feed," while others had abnormal appetites and ate five or 
six meals a day. The Medical Research Board came to the 
belief, after a careful study of the food problem, that avia- 
tors should avoid heavy foods in the early part of the day. 
Sugar and starches, breads, cereals, fruits, and vegetables 
were advised, even though these constituted but a small part 
of the regular army ration. Heavy foods, such as meats and 
fats, which have been proved by experience to be essential 
for infantry and other troops engaged in heavy manual 
labor, were recommended in great moderation. It was par- 
ticularly advised that such foods should not be eaten until 
after the day's flying was over. 

An aviator's life is very abnormal. A student aviator crowds 
such tremendous experiences into such a small portion of the 
day, he is so frequently left with plenty of time on his hands, 
albeit greatly fatigued by unusual nervous strains, that there 



212 AN EXPLORER 

is no question which worries the commanding officer of a 
flying field more than the development of proper habits by 
his student pilots. In the tropics, where men get fatigued 
easily and have more leisure than they do in the temperate 
zone, I have noticed a strong tendency toward intemperance. 
Not only intemperance as regards the use of alcohol, but 
intemperance in other things, including gambling and the 
use of cigarettes. The same is true on a flying field, with this 
difference, that indulgence in bad habits is likely to cause 
errors in judgment that lead to fatal accidents in the air. 

So much of a pilot's work is done alone, so deeply must 
he draw on his own powers of endurance and self-respect, 
that he particularly needs the kind of cheer that comes in 
Letters from Home. Irregularity in the delivery of mail 
matter was not confined to the Air Service. Every one in 
the A. E. F. suffered from it more or less. One day a letter 
would arrive that was only three weeks old. This would be 
followed a few days later by one a month old, and then on 
the next mail would arrive two that were six weeks old. Of 
course the difficulties were enormous, and the suffering was 
not serious, in most cases. 

At Christmas time the mail service seemed to improve, 
and our standard packages, "9x4x3 inches, weighing 
not more than 3 pounds," must have been given special con- 
sideration, for a large percentage of them were only a month 
en route. They had to be mailed in the United States before 
the 20th of November, and most of them arrived before the 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 213 

25th of December. One day a member of the staff brought 
in a letter to Santa Claus, but did not tell me who wrote it. It 
contained the following paragraphs : 

Dear Santa : 

If you happen to have anything lying around loose that doesn't 
weigh more than three pounds, and which isn't more than nine inches 
long, four inches wide, and three inches thick, it will get to me all 
right if you will paste the enclosed coupon on it and mail it at your 
own post office. I think that would be better than to try to bring it 
over with your reindeers. 

I 'm not saying that your reindeers are n't good ones, you under- 
stand. I never saw better ones. But some folks are likely to be mis- 
led by the size of those packages. A package 9 X 4 X 3 is a little thing, 
not as large as two bricks, and it would n't hurt you half as much 
if it fell on your head. But if you figure out the bulk for two million 
people you '11 see that it is nothing to be sneezed at, even by your 
reindeers, no matter how well they can sneeze. 

Two million of those packages placed end to end would make 
a string 284 miles, 29 rods, 1 foot and 6 inches long. Leaving out 
the jog where the toolshed stands, they would make a pile three feet 
deep all over my Dad's farm. They would fill 100 good sized freight 
cars. It would take a good team of reindeers eight years to haul them 
from Morestown to Lake City. If you could put one of those pack- 
ages down a chimney every minute, and worked eight hours a night 
at the job, it would take you 11 years, 1 month, 21 days, 5 hours, 
and 20 minutes to get rid of them all. 

Nevertheless, the idea was an excellent one. It did away with 
the likelihood of overcrowding the mails with cumbersome 
and perhaps useless "gifts," and it brought good cheer to an 
enormous number of those who were thinking that it would 
be nice to have Christmas at home. 



214 AN EXPLORER 

Finally, nothing helped toward the success of the Third 
Aviation Instruction Centre more than the American Red 
Cross. As early as October 3, 1917, Miss Irene Givenwilson 
and a few other ladies from the Red Cross stepped off into 
the " sea of mud" and took possession of a small section in 
one of the three barracks. They opened a temporary can- 
teen, and were soon cheering the men with hot coffee and 
sandwiches. 

From this little beginning the Red Cross gradually grew 
until its rooms and buildings covered nearly an acre of our 
camp. The men who spent the terrible winter of 1917—18 
at the post were all unanimous in their opinion that the 
Red Cross did more to keep up their spirits than any other 
agency. The influence of those splendid Christian women, 
the cheering smiles with which they greeted all comers, the 
tremendous energy which led them to work from early 
morning until late at night at whatever job came to hand, 
did more to keep pure Americanism alive in that corner of 
France than everything else put together. 

Among other things the Red Cross erected a laundry, a 
barber shop, and a comfortable bath house. By taking turns, 
the squadrons would get hot showers at least once a week. A 
tailoring and repair shop were greatly appreciated by the 
hundreds of flying officers and enlisted men. A technical 
library and an officers' club were early established. Miss 
Givenwilson, Miss Amy Brewer, Miss Gertrude Hussey, 
and Miss Potter were chiefly responsible for creating this 
little bit of the homeland where kind words and encouraging 



Extra! Extra! 



Cn Active Service November, II, 1918 



HOSTILITIES CEASED! 



Armistice Between Fighting Armies Effective at 
Eleven O'clock This Morning 



TRAINING OF PILOTS HERE WILL CONTINUE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION 

Hostilities between the Allies and Germany have 
temporarily ceased according to official an- 
nouncement from American Headquarters. Here 
is the announcement. 

American Official Communique, Nov. 11, 1918. 

In accordance with the terms of the 
Armistice, hostilities on the fronts of 
the American Armies were suspended 
at 11 o'clock this morning. 

Rec'd at 1:50 p. m. 

ONTO STOPPING MEFHE 



This does not mean that the War is over. It 
means that a temporary truce has been declared. 
The War may be resumed and it may not. But 
the American Army is taking no chances. Train- 
ing of .all branches of the service will continue 
■without interruption. 

Here at the 3rd A. I. C. student officers will be 



trained as heretofore, the only difference being 
that more time will be spent on their training and 
physical care. 

The number of Aviators, according to the Gen- 
eral Staff, is insufficient for the size of our Armies. 
If hostilities should be resumed this evil will be 
remedied. 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 215 

smiles for each soldier could be had for the asking. They 
were well assisted by a score of others, rays of sunshine in 
a dark valley. After the departure of the veterans, the work 
was ably carried on by Mrs. Elsie Cobb Wilson and Miss 
Peck, who were most successful in alleviating those severe 
attacks of the blues and homesickness which afflicted so 
many of our men after the Armistice was signed and before 
orders came to leave for the port of embarkation. 

A few days before Christmas a very welcome present in 
the shape of the following letter came from General Patrick, 
the head of the American Air Service in France. 

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES 

U. S. AIR SERVICE, PARIS 
OFFICE OF CHIEF OF AIR SERVICE 

17th December, 1918 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hiram Bingham, 

Commanding Officer, Issoudun 

My dear Colonel Bingham: 

As the school at Issoudun is about to close you will soon be re- 
lieved from your present duty as its Commanding Officer and re- 
turned to the United States. Before your departure I desire to place 
on record my hearty appreciation of the excellent work you did while 
in command of this, our largest training centre in France. The results 
achieved speak for themselves and evidence the interest you took in 
your work and your power to inspire those who were working with 
you. 

May I add that I was just about to recommend your promotion 
when the Armistice came and all advancement was stopped. While 



216 AN EXPLORER 

it was thus impossible to bestow upon you this well earned evidence 
of work well done, I want you to be assured that in my opinion it 
was your due. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed} Mason M. Patrick, 

Major-General, U. S. A. 

Chief of Air Service 

I sent a copy of this letter to Colonel Robert M. Dan ford, 
then Brigadier-General, who had been my commanding 
officer in the days of the "Yale Batteries" at Tobyhanna. 
It was to his remarkable ability as a military instructor 
that any success I may have had at Issoudun was due. 

On Christmas Day my orders came to go home, the best 
present any one could ask for. The next day I left Issoudun 
and, on January 1, 1919, sailed from St. Nazaire. 

After a few weeks of duty in the office of the Director 
of Military Aeronautics in Washington, I received my dis- 
charge on March 8, 1919, just two years from the time I 
began to fly in Miami. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

SHOULD THE GENERAL STAFF CONTROL THE 
AIR SERVICE? 

THE wisdom of a General Staff must always depend 
on two things : first, the practical experience, in the 
field, of the officers composing it, and second, their studies 
of the accumulated wisdom gained in previous wars. In the 
American Air Service in 1917-18, we received no help 
from anything of this kind. While probably every officer of 
the General Staff had had practical experience in handling 
infantry, in the care of cavalry, in the use of artillery, or 
in the building of roads and bridges, not one of them knew 
the nervous fatigue of piloting an airplane or how it feels to 
have engine failure over wooded, hilly country, or the diffi- 
culties of aerial observation when the air is blowing by at 
a hundred miles an hour! 

They had been able to assimilate the wisdom of centuries 
regarding the requirements of a foot-soldier — what food, 
clothing, and discipline best met his needs. They had been 
able similarly to secure centuries of experience with mounted 
soldiers and knew the needs of cavalry, but they had no 
experience to guide them in making adequate rules for the 
care, training, and discipline of aviators or aviation mechan- 
ics. The science of aeronautics and the art of flying were 
too recent to have received the attention they deserved from 
the older and wiser heads on the General Staff. 

When I went on duty in Washington in May, 1917, 1 
took it for granted that the War Department had carefully 



218 AN EXPLORER 

considered how to utilize an Air Service to the fullest ex- 
tent. It was amazing and very disconcerting to learn that 
the General Staff of the Army had apparently made no plans 
for the part which aviation was to take in the war. The pro- 
gramme of studies outlined for the first Officers' Training 
Camps contained no reference to the Air Service. The War 
College had published some useful pamphlets, copied from 
the French and British, on cooperation with artillery. Yet, 
so far as I could discover, no effort was made to teach our 
thousands of new officers anything about the progress that 
aviation had made on the Western Front during 1916, nor 
what they might expect the Air Service to do, nor how to 
communicate with airplanes by ground panels, nor what the 
proper function of the Air Service was. 

The newspapers at that time were full of exciting stories 
of the aerial combats and victories of the Lafayette Squad- 
ron. From what I could learn by conversation with our line 
officers, these aerial combats constituted the spectacular, and 
bombing planes the useful, end of the Air Service. Observa- 
tion squadrons and liaison with artillery and infantry were 
practically unknown to the average line officer. 

It is hardly necessary to say that there was equal unpre- 
paredness in many other branches of the Service. Still, it 
must never cease to be a source of amazement to our de- 
scendants that, while the great nations of the world had 
been fighting for their lives for two years and a half, and 
ordinary common sense would have seemed to have dictated 
the necessity of preparing for the day when we, too, should 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 219 

get thrown into the gigantic conflict, so little should have 
been done of what is known as "General Staff Work." 

We did not know until we had been at war for several 
months what kind of airplanes we were going to use, how 
many we should need, how many flying schools we were 
going to have, where they were to be, what were the best 
locations, what system of training was to be followed, or 
how many men we were to train. So little thought had been 
given to the matter, and so small had been our conception of 
the probable number of pilots, that, for several months after 
we entered the war, the bulletins of the War Department 
referred to in an earlier chapter offered commissions as First 
Lieutenants to those who could pass the examinations for 
Reserve Military Aviator. The law provided an increase 
in grade to those who could pass the more severe tests of 
Junior Military Aviator. As it seemed obvious that no one 
should be sent to the Front who was not a fully and com- 
pletely trained military aviator, many of our ambitious 
young pilots believed that by the time they were ready to 
fly over the lines, they would rank as Captains. 

When the provision for granting increased rank and pay 
to aviators was passed by Congress, it was thought ne- 
cessary to offer these inducements on account of the extreme 
danger of the service, and the high mortality among the 
best known aviators in this country during the years 1910- 
12. It was felt that any one who was willing to undertake 
this dangerous training ought to be specially rewarded. 
As long as we had an Air Service consisting of one fly- 



220 AN EXPLORER 

ing school and a small assortment of experimental airplanes, 
a few of which could fly a short distance, the provision was 
undoubtedly wise. But when we were faced with the ne- 
cessity of having several hundred pilots, and the probability 
of having several thousand, it might have been foreseen by 
an adequately prepared General Staff' that the bulletins in- 
viting young men to enter the Air Service should not make 
it appear that it was our plan to flood the Air Service with 
Captains. Only Central American armies are supposed to 
have an excess of rank at the top. 

Most of the aviators in the French service were non- 
coms, although they enjoyed the social privileges of officers. 
Many of the aviators in the German Air Service were non- 
commissioned officers, although the observers were nearly 
always officers. In the British Air Service, practically all 
pilots were commissioned officers, and it was felt that the 
splendid morale of the Royal Flying Corps and the remark- 
able record which its pilots had made on the Western Front 
in 1916 were due largely to this fact. 

The American Air Service adopted the last plan. General 
Pershing, however, soon came to the belief that the rank of 
second lieutenant was high enough for most of his pilots; 
yet until October, 1917, there was no provision by law for 
second lieutenants in the Signal Corps. Consequently, the 
tens of thousands of young men whose applications poured 
in during the first six months of the war had every right 
to believe that when they passed their tests, they would 
become first lieutenants. Most of them, furthermore, natu- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 221 

rally expected to be able, before long, to pass the Junior 
Military Aviator test and become captains. The fact is that 
the exigencies of the Service and General Pershing's re- 
fusal to permit any except regular officers of the permanent 
establishment to take the Junior Military Aviator test re- 
sulted, as has been pointed out, in great disappointment and 
much loss of morale among what had been the most en- 
thusiastic and keenest group of young men in the army. 

Logically, of course, it was not to be expected that our 
squadrons would be composed chiefly of captains. It would 
have been bad for the rest of the army and bad for the men 
themselves, had such an event occurred. In fact, it was so 
obviously ridiculous that it became all the more regrettable 
and almost inexplicable that the War Department should 
have for so many months offered First Lieutenancies to all 
those who could pass the easy Reserve Military Aviator test. 
Perhaps it is true that this is only one of many instances 
in which our persistent refusal to prepare for war led us 
into making serious blunders, but there was none which 
caused more unhappiness or greater loss of esprit de corps. 

The situation as far as it concerns extra "flying pay" is 
quite different. The statement is frequently made by old 
army officers that in time of war aviation is no more danger- 
ous than any other branch of the Service. There was a strong 
effort on the part of General Pershing and the General Staff 
to persuade Congress of this during the early part of 1918, 
and to alter the law so that Military Aviators would not 
receive an increase either in pay or grade. The Military 



222 AN EXPLORER 

Affairs Committee of the Senate refused to consider the pro- 
posal, but General Pershing achieved his purpose so far as 
France was concerned by refusing to permit any reserve or 
temporary officer to take the examinations for Junior Mili- 
tary Aviator. For many months he also refused to issue the 
orders necessary to place pilots "on flying duty," thereby 
preventing them from getting even the 25 per cent increase 
in pay that was permitted to Reserve Military Aviators. 
Later on this was changed, although with evident reluc- 
tance. 

Since the grade of Junior Military Aviator carried with 
it an increase in pay of 50 per cent, and the grade of Mili- 
tary Aviator, attainable after three years as a Junior Mili- 
tary Aviator or for distinguished service at the Front, carried 
an increase in pay of 75 per cent, there was naturally a great 
deal of resentment felt by the pilots who were doing the 
most flying against the relatively few regular officers whose 
administrative duties prevented them from flying more than 
just enough to warrant them in drawing their flying pay, 
but who, through their grade as Junior Military Aviator or 
Military Aviator, were paid two or three times as much for 
the small risks they ran as were the ordinary pilots who 
were taking their lives in their hands every day. 

Had General Pershing and the General Staff contented 
themselves with asking that the law be changed regarding 
the increase in rank, and explained the disadvantages of 
having too many high ranking young pilots, there would 
probably have been no objections raised; but when the Mili- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 223 

tary Affairs Committee learned from foreign flying officers 
on duty in Washington that both the French and British 
Governments gave extra pay to their pilots, the insistence on 
the part of the General Staff that pilots did not run unusual 
risks met with unanimous disapproval. It was only one of 
the results of that lack of expert knowledge of military aero- 
nautics and lack of sympathy with the difficulties of avia- 
tion which pervaded the General Staff during 1917-18. 

Speaking of risks, it may be of interest to refer to my own 
experience. My first instructor in an army machine was 
Captain Roger Jannus, a pilot of long experience, great skill, 
and remarkable devotion to duty. He was killed while in the 
course of a practice combat.near Field 8 at Issoudun. His 
machine caught fire in the air, probably from a gasoline 
tank which had become leaky owing to the strains and con- 
tortions of combat flying. Captain Jannus was too experi- 
enced a pilot to have taken up an imperfect machine, and 
no one could have foreseen the accident which happened to 
him after he had been combatting with an instructor about 
three-quarters of an hour. My second instructor was Cap- 
tain H. Taylor, who was the officer in charge of flying at 
Mineola when I went there to take my Reserve Military 
Aviator tests in August, 1917. He was a very experienced 
pilot and devoted to his work. I had not been flying at Min- 
eola but a few days when he was killed while giving a lesson 
in spiralling to the pupil whose turn immediately preceded 
mine. The student was seriously injured, but eventually 
recovered. It was an extremely hot day, and I have since 



224 AN EXPLORER 

had occasion to notice that accidents in the air always in- 
crease during extremely hot weather, possibly as the result 
of fainting or vertigo. 

My third instructor at Issoudun was more fortunate, and 
lived to achieve a brilliant record at the Front. My fourth 
instructor, Lieutenant Ott, was killed at Issoudun, while 
endeavoring to bring his ship out of a dangerous position 
into which it had been thrown by an inexperienced stu- 
dent in the back seat. My fifth instructor, and the one who 
succeeded by his patience and skill in giving me a sense 
of confidence in the tricky Nieuport 23, was Lieutenant 
Blanchard. He was an unusually painstaking pilot, a faith- 
ful instructor, and a very competent aviator. After several 
months of teaching at Issoudun, he was sent to the gunnery 
school at St. Jean des Monts to perfect himself in actual 
firing before going to the Front, but was killed by being 
thrown from his machine when diving at a target. When 
it is remembered that these men who gave their lives at 
flying schools were not beginners, or poorly trained pilots, 
but experts in the art of flying, it seems incredible that any 
one should begrudge the pilot his additional pay. 

A recent article in the Philadelphia Press calls atten- 
tion to the very heavy loss suffered by the French Air Ser- 
vice. During the four years of the war nearly 2000 French 
pilots and observers were killed at the Front; 1500 "disap- 
peared," which means that some were killed, others were 
taken prisoners ; nearly 3000 were injured, and about 2000 
were killed while on duty at sc/iool or depot in the Zone of 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 225 

the Interior. On the day of the Armistice, the French Air 
Service had about 13,000 available pilots and observers. 
The very heavy proportion of losses compared to the size 
of the service is self-evident. 

It is an interesting commentary on human nature and on 
the utility of a combined civilian and military control over 
the army that the members of the Senate Military Aifairs 
Committee, none of whom were flyers, should have been 
more ready to sympathize with the Army Aviator than were 
the officers of the General Staff. 

Not only in rank and pay, but also in such minor mat- 
ters as spurs and blouses, was the General Staff's attitude 
shown. As has already been stated in a previous chapter, 
during the first year of our participation in the war, the 
General Staff insisted that an aviator who wore boots must 
wear spurs as well as wings ! At last the humor of it struck 
somebody, and aviators were allowed for a few months to 
wear boots without spurs. This was too much for the old 
cavalry officers, however, and in December, 19 18, the former 
rule was restored ! 

As regards the blouse, we made many efforts to be al- 
lowed to wear a coat made with a collar that was safe and 
comfortable, like those worn by Allied aviators. Our naval 
aviators were successful. We had not been at war more than 
three months before they secured the authorization of an at- 
tractive and sensible uniform with roll collar and appropriate 
insignia, a uniform several times referred to by foreign offi- 
cers in my presence as the smartest uniform in Europe, and 



226 AN EXPLORER 

one that undoubtedly gave the naval flyers additional pres- 
tige and improved morale. Notwithstanding the promptness 
of the navy in realizing that the aviators could not be ex- 
pected to be either comfortable or efficient in a high-stand- 
ing collar, the General Staff of the army absolutely refused 
to permit the military aviator any deviation from the snug 
fitting neck-band which helps the infantry soldier to stand 
stiffly erect on parade. 

Our uniform was designed for the kind of fighting that 
the American Army had been accustomed to on the Mexican 
border and in the Philippines. Nothing could be more effec- 
tive for that sort of fighting than our service hat and the 
thick flannel shirt. In France, however, it was necessary to 
fight in a blouse or coat, although this had been designed 
chiefly to be worn on parade. Even the old conservative staff 
officers could see that it was impossible to wear our service 
hat under the very necessary steel helmet, so the sacred hat 
was soon given up in favor of a cloth cap. Why a more com- 
fortable form of blouse was not provided for the ground 
troops, I do not know. That it was denied to aviators was 
undoubtedly due to the fact that no members of the Gen- 
eral Staff had ever had to fly over the lines or in a crowded 
area near a big flying school where it is necessary to 
turn the head from right to left, back and forth, continually, 
in order to make sure of avoiding other airplanes, either 
enemy or friendly. 

At school we permitted our students to wear, sweaters 
under their flying equipment instead of the regulation 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 227 

blouses. Even so, however, they were frequently subjected to 
serious reprimands if they were seen by old regular officers, 
"improperly clad and contrary to regulation." At the Front, 
however, it was different. The aviator who went over the lines 
ran a very good chance of being taken prisoner in case he 
was forced to land because of engine failure or being shot 
down. Naturally, it was necessary for him always to be clad 
in the uniform of an officer. Some squadron commanders 
permitted their pilots to wear non-regulation blouses pat- 
terned on the English model, with roll collars. This caused 
censure and complaint on the part of those whose duty it 
was to uphold the regulations and see that they were carried 
out. Other pilots who crossed the lines wearing the regulation 
collars frequently came back with necks cut and bleeding, 
owing to the necessity of turning the head incessantly in 
order to avoid surprise attacks of enemy airplanes. 

This may seem to be a small matter, and hardly deserving 
of so much attention. The truth is, however, that it made the 
young pilot feel that the army took no interest in his wel- 
fare. The General Staff failed to recognize that this su- 
premely voluntary service, from which it was so easy to 
escape if one felt so inclined, required plenty of encourage- 
ment, and the zest that comes from intense pride in an 
organization. It was well known that the British and French 
armies treated their aviators with the utmost consideration, 
permitting them great freedom and recognizing that the 
extremely hazardous and nerve-racking nature of the daily 
service over the lines required a different form of discipline. 



228 AN EXPLORER 

The additional fact that our own navy had acknowledged 
the special uniform requirements of an aviator made it all 
the harder to understand why the General Staff refused to 
give us more consideration. It is worthy of note that Major- 
General Brewster, the Inspector-General of the American 
Expeditionary Forces, in May, 1918, personally recom- 
mended a change in the uniform regulation in order to give 
the aviators what he felt they justly deserved. His recom- 
mendation, however, produced no result. 

It was frequently felt by the officers of the American Air 
Service that the army as a whole, particularly some of the 
older staff officers, were so jealous of the extraordinary in- 
terest which Congress and the American people took in 
aviation, and were so resentful of the unfortunate amount 
of advertising which the Air Service received (through no 
fault of its own), that they took satisfaction in declining any 
requests for special consideration. The fact remains, that 
the Air Service, composed largely, as it must be, of high- 
strung, venturesome boys willing to take unheard-of risks in 
their enthusiasm, and facing extraordinary dangers even in 
the ordinary course of their daily drill and training, needs 
intelligent, sympathetic consideration. 

The General Staff must prepare for the future by requir- 
ing its officers to fly, or by including among its members 
a relatively large number of pilots and observers, so that 
there will be just as sympathetic an understanding of the 
Air Service as there is of the Cavalry or Field Artillery. 
There will be no excuse for not having on the General 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 229 

Staff men like Colonel Walter G. Kilner, who received the 
Distinguished Service Medal for his remarkable work in 
organizing aviation instruction in France, knows the whole 
problem of Military Aeronautics from top to bottom, and 
who did more towards the success of aviation in France 
than any other officer in the American Expeditionary Forces. 
Furthermore, there should be men on the Staff like Colonel 
Robert M. Danford, now Commandant of Cadets at West 
Point, who believes that all artillery officers should become 
aerial observers, even if they cannot learn to fly themselves. 
In the past, all officers of field artillery were "mounted" offi- 
cers and wore spurs ; in the future, they should all be able to 
wear the wings of a pilot or an observer. The eyes of the 
artillery must be under the control of the same general offi- 
cer who directs the activities of the guns themselves. In 
other words, it would be folly to divorce Military Aeronautics 
from the army. Our military aviators must be trained by 
army officers, who have themselves learned the peculiar 
difficulties of this new branch of the Service. 

Plans for military airplanes will undoubtedly be pre- 
sented by members of the arm that is going to use them; 
but the actual manufacture and production of airplanes 
need not be under military control any more than the manu- 
facture of arms and ammunition as carried on at such great 
plants as Winchester's and Colt's. 

Personally, I agree with such authorities as Admiral 
David Beatty, that an Independent Air Force is a mistake, 
and that the army and the navy should each control the 



230 AN EXPLORER 

training and the operation of their own aviators. The Air- 
craft Journal for November, 1919, contained the following 
digest of an interview with Admiral Beatty, which is most 
significant. 

Admiral Beatty stated that he had supported the creation of the 
Royal Air Forces, for the reason that at the time it was the only 
way he could get the personnel and material he needed in the Grand 
Fleet ; he thought that a young and new service would be keen to 
make a reputation with the two older services (Navy and Army) 
by being particular not to let anything interfere with Naval and 
Army Aviation needs. In that way, with production centralized, 
they would get by the troubles they were having for supply of ma- 
terial. But that was his idea during the war ; now that the war is 
over, he does not consider the R. A. F. organization a proper one, 
as far as it applies to the Navy and Army ; the phrase " Navy and 
Army and Air " is an attractive one but it is n't sound in each pro- 
fession — Navy and Army — and there should be no independent 
fighting force in the air. . . . 

He considered that the value of the Independent Air Force for 
England was somewhat overrated: results of the war showed that 
damage by bombing, both physical and moral, was not as great as 
expected; for example, in spite of the tons of high explosives 
dropped on Bruges there was surprisingly little damage. The moral 
effect of the bombing wears off, for the population gradually becomes 
accustomed to it. Referring to the organization requirements of the 
United States, he said that with our geographical position there was 
no excuse at all for an independent fighting Air Force. But he does 
believe that a separate Air organization to control all aviation pro- 
duction is desirable, for England or any other country. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE FUTURE OF AVIATION 

WITH increased knowledge as to the possibilities 
of aviation, other departments of the Government 
will more and more desire to own and operate their own 
planes and dirigibles. The Post-Office Department has its 
own problems, which are even now being successfully 
worked out. Similarly, the Forest Service will desire to use 
small dirigibles to enable their forest rangers to cover large 
reservations quickly and effectively. In the course of time 
the Department of Agriculture will undoubtedly wish to 
use airships to make rapid surveys of large crop areas. The 
Navy Department will continue to control the seaplanes and 
dirigibles which are now such indispensable adjuncts of the 
modern battleship. The Treasury Department will need to 
use the air just as it uses the water for revenue cutters, in 
order to prevent the breach of those laws, the observance 
of which the Treasury Department is particularly inter- 
ested in. The Department of Justice will need a certain 
number of fast planes in order that its special agents may 
make rapid visits to those places that require immediate in- 
vestigation. 

In considering the future, we must remember that the 
air has become one of the routes of travel, and that its use 
as such is going to grow, just as the use of our navigable 
streams has increased since the days of Fulton, and the uses 
of the ocean have multiplied since the days of Prince Henry 
the Navigator and the commencement of scientific naviga- 



232 AN EXPLORER 

tion. To be sure, aviation is only in its infancy ; it must not 
be expected that its future will be smooth and lacking in 
incident. 

The man-in-the-street has been watching the progress 
of aviation during the past ten years with varied emotions. 
At first he showed great interest in the progress of an art 
which was made of practical utility by the patient scien- 
tific experiments of the Wright brothers. Then, after noting 
with dismay the large percentage of well-known flyers who 
were killed, his enthusiasm waned and he was inclined to 
feel that perhaps, after all, man was not intended to imitate 
the birds. A few of his friends bought airplanes that did 
not fly, or at any rate which could not be made to fly by 
the purchasers, and he learned to discount the statements 
of airplane manufacturers. He discounted them so far, in 
fact, that unless he was fortunate enough to come into 
personal contact with Curtiss Flying Boats at Miami or 
Atlantic City, his faith was dead. His lack of interest was 
reflected in the small size of the appropriations which Con- 
gress saw fit to make for the development of aviation in the 
army and navy. This feeling of discouragement was fur- 
ther enhanced by the disputes and "scandals" connected 
with the administration of the Army Aviation School at 
San Diego. 

Then came the war and the achievements of the cele- 
brated Lafayette Squadron. The man-in-the-street began 
to read of aerial victories, and came to believe that the war 
could be won in the air, if enough money was spent. His 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 233 

imagination visualized a cloud of American planes over 
Germany. His enthusiasm reached such a pitch that the 
largest single appropriation ever made for aviation in all 
its history, $640,000,000, was passed almost without dis- 
cussion, and practically unanimously, by a Congress which 
reflected his superlative optimism. 

The newspapers which he read in the fall of 1917, as he 
rode home from his day in the street, gave him a tremen- 
dous sense of comfort in the thought that we were soon to 
overwhelm the Huns in the air. Then came unaccountable 
delays. Skepticism and disappointment took the place of 
optimistic enthusiasm. Dismay followed, and in the summer 
of 1918, the man-in-the-street threw his aviation ideals 
overboard, shrugged his shoulders, and decided that some- 
body had sold him a gold brick. So completely did he turn 
his back on his former belief, that he refused to read about 
what had been really accomplished before the Armistice 
was signed ; or, reading it, declined to be "fooled a second 
time." 

The fact that he had expected more than was humanly 
possible did not help him to appreciate the miracle that had 
actually been performed. In a year and a half the Army 
Air Service had grown from having 224 airplanes of doubt- 
ful value, "a magnificent retrospective museum," as a vis- 
iting French aviator remarked, to over 1 7,000, a large per- 
centage of them the best in the world for the purposes for 
which they were intended. We did not manufacture all of 
the 17,000, nor did France or England manufacture all 



234 AN EXPLORER 

the ammunition they. used. The point is — we had them! 

There were other achievements that the man-in-the- 
street might have been proud of. He believed in the Rolls 
Royce motor, but thought the Liberty motor a failure. He 
ought to have been interested to learn that England, with 
all her faith in the Rolls Royce, was only able at the end of 
the war to make ten a day, while we were manufacturing 
150 Liberty motors every twenty-four hours. This took 
time to develop. It always does take time to put a new motor 
on a production basis. He did not know that in order to 
manufacture a Liberty motor on a typical American quan- 
tity production basis, it was necessary to make 3000 sepa- 
rate tools, gigs, and fixtures. 

With his skepticism and his lack of technical knowledge, 
he did not understand why England and France were eager 
to purchase Liberty motors. He doubted the statement that 
they were willing to take all we could spare them. The chief 
reason was that the Liberty motor is remarkably efficient. 
It weighs 100 pounds less than the Rolls Royce and de- 
velops 100 horse power more! It is not surprising that the 
first motors to succeed in crossing the Atlantic Ocean were 
Liberty motors; while the Rolls Royce got "red hot" and 
Mr. Hawker had to look to a chance steamer for aid. 

With regard to airships and balloons, the man-in-the- 
street knew very little, or he would have taken even more 
pride in the American Air Service. From being able to make 
two balloons a week when we went into the war, our capa- 
city increased so that when the Armistice was signed, we 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 235 

were actually making 70 balloons a week. But that was not 
the principal thing, although the presence of these kite bal- 
loons was an important factor in winning the war on the 
Western Front. 

We probably never shall know just how many of our 
military secrets were known to the Hun, nor just how far 
this knowledge, and what it meant in terms of the spring 
campaign for 1919, led him to sign the Armistice in the 
fall of 1918. It may have been that the knowledge of our 
ability to begin inflating our balloons with non-inflammable 
gas, a gas which could not be exploded by the fire of in- 
cendiary bullets from Hun airplanes, had something to do 
with his decision that the game was not worth the candle. 
The fact remains that we had learned to produce helium 
gas in quantity, and that the first shipment was made in 
November, 1918. 

The aerial observer, riding steadily in the basket of a 
kite balloon, had proved to be more useful in the control of 
artillery fire than his brother in the observation airplane, 
who was continually dodging anti-aircraft fire — to say noth- 
ing of the attacks of hostile planes. The balloon filled with 
hydrogen made a relatively easy mark for hostile planes, 
and it took only one bullet to send it down in flames, while 
the observer escaped in a parachute. Had it been filled with 
helium, he would have been able to stay up almost indefi- 
nitely. And the observer would have given a good account 
of himself by using machine guns, firing from a relatively 
stable platform against the attacking airplanes, whose guns 



236 AN EXPLORER 

were firing from a platform moving at the rate of more than 
100 miles an hour. 

Helium, as the gas next lightest to hydrogen and with 
95 per cent of its lifting power,was not known to the man-in- 
the-street, and would not have interested him, for when we 
entered the war helium cost $1700 a cubic foot. To have 
used it on the Western Front in the same quantity that we 
used hydrogen would have cost us $34,000,000,000, or 
more than all our Liberty Bonds combined. The knowledge 
of what we might do if we could produce it at reasonable 
cost led to such earnest investigation on the part of our 
scientists in Washington, that a method was discovered 
whereby helium could be extracted from natural gas in 
Texas or Oklahoma at the cost of 10 cents a cubic foot. 
Instead of $34,000,000,000, it would then only have cost 
$2,000,000 to replace hydrogen in our balloons over the 
lines. These things should have encouraged the man-in-the- 
street. As he becomes conscious of them, they will eventually 
lead him to take a new interest in the possibilities of aviation 
and the future of the Air Service. 

The extraordinary success of the British dirigible in hunt- 
ing submarines and keeping on their trail until they were 
put out of business is now one of the open secrets of the war. 
The dirigible, more easily than the fast flying airplane, 
could pick up the oily trail of the submarine, locate various 
oily surfaces, examine them at its leisure, " stalk the sub- 
marine to its lair," and finally direct the destroyers where to 
drop their depth bombs most successfully. In the matter of 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 237 

Coast Defence, it would seem as though dirigibles were far 
more successful than seaplanes. 

In the pursuits of peace time, the possible activity of diri- 
gibles, both small and large, has scarcely been given due 
consideration in America. The possibilities of a small diri- 
gible are enormous and but dimly appreciated. If one is will- 
ing to run the risk of fire and use hydrogen gas, a portable 
gas-making machine has been perfected which enables one 
readily to make hydrogen from a wayside stream. If one 
prefers to use helium, it can be compressed into tubes that 
are feasible for transportation. Furthermore, the leakage of 
helium is not as great as that of hydrogen. A skilful aero- 
naut can find landing places for a dirigible in many regions 
where landing in an airplane is absolutely outof thequestion. 

The use of dirigibles in exploring large flooded areas and 
making prompt reports regarding the extent of the flood has 
been suggested. Imagine what an enormous saving could be 
effected by prompt, accurate reports of its description at a 
time when telegraph wires are down and communication by 
railroad or automobile has been seriously broken. 

Their use in crossing desert areas, where full advantage 
can be taken of prevailing winds and where, by sailing low, 
a large amount of data can be collected with the minimum 
amount of risk and delay, should be considered. It frequently 
happens that important mines are located in the midst of 
mountainous deserts which are very difficult of access. A 
case has been brought to my attention of a miner in Alaska 
who lost $100,000 because of his inability to go over the 



238 AN EXPLORER 

trails during the winter season. He would have been willing 
to pay $25,000 for that transportation which would have 
been entirely practicable had a dirigible and its crew been 
available. 

In exploration in the Amazon Valley we have always been 
hampered by the extreme density of the jungle and the ne- 
cessity of keeping near the great watercourses. There are 
thousands of square miles within easy flying distance of 
navigable rivers, thousands of square miles of totally unex- 
plored country which the explorer who has a dirigible could 
photograph, map, and investigate, from a low elevation in 
the air, to his heart's content. To attempt to do this in air- 
planes would mean the necessity of flying at great eleva- 
tions in order to increase the margin of safety in case of 
engine failure and make it possible to glide to some safe 
landing area upon a navigable stream. On the other hand, 
a small dirigible operating from a motor boat on a river 
could make journeys of hundreds of miles over absolutely 
unknown regions with a very small amount of danger. Ow- 
ing to the dirigible's ability to float low over heavily forested 
country, a tropical botanist or a practical forester skilled in 
the commercial features of the Amazon basin could locate 
at very little expense the important groves of mahogany or 
rubber which do so much to make the tropics profitable in 
commerce. 

Should Commercial Aeronautics be under a separate 
branch of the Government? At the Sixth National Foreign 
Trade Convention, held in Chicago in April, 1919, repre- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 239 

sentatives of the largest and most powerful exporting man- 
ufacturers and merchants of America adopted the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Realizing the unquestioned advantages of having the speediest pos- 
sible mail and express service in enabling American enterprise to 
compete successfully in securing the specifications and requirements of 
our foreign contracts, this convention urges prompt Congressional 
consideration of suitable plans for developing aerial navigation. The 
establishment of the necessary aids to such navigation, the investiga- 
tion and development of the fundamental principles of commercial 
aeronautics, the promotion of airship service to distant countries, are 
matters which demand the prompt establishment of a separate de- 
partment of the government. One of its chief duties should be to pro- 
vide the necessary information which will make possible the use of 
aerial navigation as an aid to foreign trade. 

The development of foreign trade depends in large measure 
upon pleasing the foreign customer. When his need arises, 
he gives his order to the man whose integrity he respects, 
who can deliver the goods most promptly, and whose stand- 
ing in the local community is at a high level. Agents of 
American goods abroad have in the past been at a disad- 
vantage, owing to lack of proper banking facilities, lack of 
adequate ocean transport, and lack of prestige due to the 
absence of our flag on the best passenger and freight lines. 
These things have been largely remedied, and our European 
competitors know that at least American banking facilities 
and American steamship lines have improved during the 
war to such an extent as greatly to assist the American ex- 
porter. Consequently, they are naturally turning to the pos- 



240 AN EXPLORER 

sibilities of Aviation as a means of passing us in the race 
and securing the most attractive foreign contracts. 

If the foreign buyer knows that his order must go by 
steamship mail from Buenos Aires, the greatest city of the 
southern hemisphere, or from Hongkong or Yokohama, 
those great markets of the Far East, before they can be de- 
livered to our factories in America, a process that will take 
about three weeks in time as compared with three or four 
days if he sends the order to Europe by a British dirigible 
airship like the R-34, it will be hard to secure that order 
if he is in a hurry. Furthermore, if he knows that he can 
secure from Europe specifications or missing parts by air- 
plane express within a week or ten days from the time he 
sends for them, while it would take him from six weeks to 
two months to get the same service from New York, it will 
be very difficult for the American exporter to secure his order. 

Our British cousins have a knowledge of export trade 
and how to develop it that is second to none. Even during 
the darkest days of the war, the British Air Ministry was 
studying the problems of civil aerial transport. They have 
been experimenting with rigid dirigibles for several years. 
They sent a sample over here in 1919 to prove that the 
thing was feasible. The R-34 and ships of her type which 
are being built in England to-day can go anywhere in the 
world, provided there are proper terminals, and provided there 
are occasional ports to which they can repair in time of 
stress, and where they may ride safely while taking on sup- 
plies of gas and oil. As soon as they can be sure of suffi- 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 241 

cient aids to aerial navigation and proper docks that will not 
endanger the safety of these expensive but speedy aircraft, 
England and France will have lines of rigid dirigibles and 
seaplanes established between the principal cities of Europe 
and the great foreign markets in South America and the 
Far East. 

Of course it will take time to develop these terminals, but 
England is steadily working on the problem while we are 
making little or no attempt to progress in that direction. 
After years of experimentation, England has learned how 
to build a successful rigid dirigible which can cross the 
Atlantic in less than forty-eight hours, without endanger- 
ing either passengers or crew in case of engine trouble. We 
have developed no rigid dirigible in this country, nor, so far 
as I know, are there any under construction. It seems as 
though we were asleep to the possibilities of aerial transport. 
There is no question that England's foreign trade is going 
to be tremendously boomed by her far-sighted study of civil 
aerial transport and by her present attention to rigid dirigi- 
bles. When these great airships are seen in foreign ports 
flying the British flag and offering quick connection between 
British manufacturers and their foreign customers, we shall 
find effective competition to be very hard sledding. If we 
wait until we actually see and feel the effects of the British 
aerial international transport, it will take us years to catch 
up, and in the mean time the position of our competitors will 
be more and more firmly established. 

History is curiously repeating itself in this question of 



242 AN EXPLORER 

foreign transportation. One hundred years ago, steamers 
were just being tried out. The first one to cross the Atlantic 
was an American — the steamer Savannah. She took thirty 
days to cross the ocean, while our clipper ships often did 
it in half that time. Our experienced exporters, instead of 
having vision and doing all in their power to establish 
American lines of steamers, were contented to rely on our 
attractive clipper ships and to brag about their performance, 
while England gradually developed lines of ocean steamers, 
and we one day woke up to the fact that our clipper ships 
were out of date and that England had the coaling stations, 
the foreign agents, the necessary terminals, and the tech- 
nical knowledge to enable her to push our ocean-going 
commerce out of the foreign ports where it had once been 
so well known. Are we about to do this all over again ? Are 
Americans willing to be content with having made aerial 
navigation a practical possibility, and then going to permit 
its future development to rest in the hands of our Euro- 
pean competitors and thus let them secure the most effi- 
cient handmaid of future foreign trade? 

We may confidently expect that the army of the future 
will spend much time and thought in developing Military 
Aeronautics, and the navy, similarly, in the growth of 
Naval Aeronautics. Then who is to look after Commercial 
Aeronautics? Who is to conduct the fundamental experi- 
ments in the use of the air? Who is to carry out the me- 
teorological surveys to be made before aerial transportation 
can be fully developed? Who will establish the aids to aerial 



IN THE AIR SERVICE 243 

navigation, such as air ports, wind breaks, lighthouses, bea- 
cons, storm warnings, life saving stations, with aerial patrol 
ready to give assistance to wrecked airships? Whose busi- 
ness is it to do all these things? Until these are done; until 
proper wharves and suitable harbors are prepared for the 
reception of airships, where they will be as safe in time of 
storm as are those sailing vessels which plow the seven 
seas, the future of aviation, as far as we are concerned, will 
be relatively insignificant. We recognize the fact that a 
coast without ports and harbors does not attract commerce, 
does not develop sailors, and does not conduce to a pros- 
perous merchant marine. We have hitherto failed to recog- 
nize the fact that a land without air ports and air harbors 
cannot expect to witness the rapid development of Com- 
mercial Aeronautics. The future of Aviation depends in 
large measure on the speed with which we provide aids for 
aerial navigation. 

These are not needs which concern the army or the 
navy nearly as much as they concern the merchant and 
the manufacturer, who depend on them for their support. 
The commerce of the future demands special consideration 
from a governmental department of aeronautics. Such a 
department would give it the fostering care that has been 
shown by the Department of Agriculture in its bureaus of 
animal industry and plant importation. Just as the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has helped to provide better horses for 
the cavalry and better seeds for the farmer ; just as it has 
helped us to produce more healthy crops and to solve the 



244 AN EXPLORER 

complex problems of farming, so must the Department of 
Aeronautics provide winged steeds for the "mounted offi- 
cers" of the field artillery, reconnaissance planes for the cav- 
alry, and adequate aerial transportation for our merchants 
and manufacturers. 

Finally, we must not allow aerial accidents to blind us 
to the importance of aerial navigation. Two thousand ocean 
vessels were wrecked on the shores of Cape Cod prior to 
1915. Nevertheless, in the preceding centuries the progress 
of ocean navigation went steadily ahead on the New Eng- 
land coast in spite of loss of life and property. We may con- 
fidently expect that aerial navigation will slowly advance, 
in spite of fatal accidents and numerous crashes. Still, if we 
believe in aviation, it is our duty to strive by every means 
in our power to secure the construction of those aids to nav- 
igation that will reduce the risks and encourage the enter- 
prise of the daring young pilots who are ready to do their 
part in making the Air Service of the future a glorious page 
in the historv of America. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

ADMINISTRATION ROSTER* OF OFFICERS ON DUTY AT 
THE THIRD AVIATION INSTRUCTION CENTRE, A,E. F. 

November 24, 1918 

Staff 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hiram Bingham, A. S., Commanding 
Major Thomas G. Lanphier, Infantry, Executive Officer 
Major Victor W. Page, A. S., Aero Engineer Officer , 0. I. C. Trans. 
Captain Lester E. Cummings, A. S., Summary Court Officer 
Captain Leo R. Sack, A. S., Liaison Officer, 0. I. C. "Plane News" 
Captain Theodore C. Knight, A. S., 0. 1. C. Fields 1 and 2 
Captain St. Clair Street, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 5 
Captain Richard S. Davis, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 7 
Captain George Bleistein, Jr. , A. S., Disbursing Officer 
Captain Henry C. Ferguson, A. S., 0. 1. C. Flying 
Captain Harry L. Wingate, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 8 
Captain Henry H. Simons, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 3 
Captain Vernon H. Simmons, A. S., 0. I. C. Training 
First Lieutenant Richard H. Merkle, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 10 
First Lieutenant Frederick A. Vietor, 6 th Cavalry, Assistant Provost 

Marshal 
First Lieutenant Emil H. Molthan, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 9 
First Lieutenant George W. Eypper, A. S., 0. 1. C. Aerial Gunnery 
First Lieutenant William V. Saxe, A. S., Adjutant 
First Lieutenant Raymond A. Watkins, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field 12 
First Lieutenant Selmer J. Tilleson, A. S., 0. I. C. Aero Supply 
Second Lieutenant Robert H. Clark, A. S., Personnel Officer 

10 th Aero Sqjjadron 
First Lieutenant Louis H. Kronig, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant George W. Fish, A. S., Engineer Officer Field 8 
First Lieutenant Earl W. Sweeney, A. S., Assistant 0. I. C. Aerial Gun- 
nery Field 8 

♦This roster does not include the names of student officers, of whom there were at that 
time about one thousand. 



248 APPENDIX 

First Lieutenant John A. Taylor, A. S., Squadron Supply Officer 
First Lieutenant Thomas Munroe, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 
First Lieutenant Duerson Knight, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Charles W. Seaton, A. S., Unassigned 
Second Lieutenant Lewis A. Barcelo, A. S., Maintenance Officer Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Henry A. Colver, A. S., 0.1. C. Aerial Gunnery 
Field 8 

21 st Aero Sojjadron 

First Lieutenant Frank L. Doty, A. S., Commanding 

First Lieutenant Lee E. Ellis, A. S., Squadron Supply Officer 

First Lieutenant Edgar Youngdahl, A. S., Moniteur Field 3 

First Lieutenant George D. Floyd, A. S., Moniteur Field 3 

First Lieutenant Hugh Lowery, A. S., 0. 1. C. Cross-country Flights 

First Lieutenant Alfred J. Ralph, A. S., Assistant 0. 1. C. Cross-country 

Flights 
First Lieutenant Arthur L. Lewis, A. S., 0. 1. C. Flying Field 3 
First Lieutenant William R. Baxter, A. S.,Adjuta?it Field 3 
Second Lieutenant Bernard H. Baker, A. S., Moniteur Field 3 
Second Lieutenant Robert S. Oliver, A. S., Moniteur Field 3 
Second Lieutenant Stuart F. Auer, A. S., Moniteur Field 3 
Second Lieutenant James H. O'Neil, A. S., Chief Engineer Officer Field 3 
Second Lieutenant John T. Eagleton, A. S., Duty with Aero Supply De- 
partment 
Second Lieutenant Kent H. Smith, A. S., Police Officer Field 3 
Second Lieutenant John E. Gans, A. S., Adjutant 

26 th Aero Sojjadron 

Captain James C. Calvert, S. C, Commanding 

First Lieutenant George W. McNamara, A. S., Claims Officer Third 
A. I. C. 

First Lieutenant Thomas W. Ward, A. S., Information Officer and Duty 
with Training Department 

Second Lieutenant Massey S. McCullough, A. S., Assistant Transporta- 
tion Officer 

Second Lieutenant Karl H. Kloo, A. S., Photographer Third A. I. (7., 
Assistant 0. 1. C. "Plane News'* 

Second Lieutenant R. W. Prestridge, A. S., Squadron Supply Officer and 
Adjutant 



APPENDIX 249 

30 th Aero Squadron 

First Lieutenant Raymond M. Lewis, A. S., Commanding, Assistant Ad- 
jutant Third A. I. C, 0. I. C. Band, Judge Advocate Special Court- 
Mart ial 

Second Lieutenant Roy W. Gottschall, A. S., Duty with Aerial Gunnery 
Department 

Second Lieutenant Arthur E. Stevens, A. S., Assistaiit Supply Officer 
Third A. I. C. 

Second Lieutenant William G. Kieck, A. S., Assistant Supply Officer 
Third A. J. C. 

Second Lieutenant Eugene W. Silver, A. S., Duty with Engineering 
Department 

31 st Aero Squadron 
Captain Charles R. Melin, A. S., 0. I. C. Night Flying Field 7 
Second Lieutenant James B. Andrews, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Robert N. Dippy, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant Schuyler L. Hoff, A. S., Supply Officer Field 5 
First Lieutenant Walter C. Davis, A. S., 0. I. C. Training Field 5 
First Lieutenant Roy Robinson, A. S., 0. I. C. Training Field 12 
First Lieutenant Lloyd L. Harvey, A. S., Moniteur Field 5 
First Lieutenant Wesley J. Hunt, Jr., A. S., Moniteur Field 5 
Second Lieutenant Parker Blair, A. S., Assistant Adjutant Field 5 
Second Lieutenant Walter Sturrock, A. S., Engineer Officer Field 5 

32 d Aero Squadron 
Captain Duncan Dana, A. S., Commanding, 0. 1. C. Aero Repair Shop 
First Lieutenant Roland E. Coates, A. S., Assistant Engineer Officer Aero 

Repair Shop 
Second Lieutenant Arthur B. Coryell, A. S., Assistant Engineer Officer 

Aero Repair Shop 
Second Lieutenant Eliot B. Foot, A. S., Assistant Engineer Officer Aero 

Repair Shop 

33 d Aero Squadron 

Captain Clarence Oliver, A. S., Commanding, Adjutant Field 9 
First Lieutenant Roger E. Martz, A. S., Chief Engineer Officer Field 9 
First Lieutenant Samuel W. Rynocker, A. S., Squadron Supply Officer, 
Fire Marshal, and Police Officer Field 9 



250 APPENDIX 

First Lieutenant Robert Haverty, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Clare E. Rollins, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant James O. Peck, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Heber W. Peters, A. S., 0. I. C. Flying Field 9 
Second Lieutenant George S. Koyl, A. S., Maintenance Officer Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Edward L. Gulick, Jr., A. S., Supply Officer Field 9 
Second Lieutenant John L. Barnes, A. S., Assistant Adjutant Field 9 

35 th Aero Sojjadron 

Second Lieutenant Preston M. Albro, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Golden H. Benefiel, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant James B. Kincaid, A. S., 0. 1. C. Flying Field 2 
First Lieutenant Arthur T. Bissonette, A. S., Assistant 0. I. C. Flying 

Field 2 
First Lieutenant Thomas L. Dawson, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Herbert F. Duggan, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Irving D. Fish, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Dean Hole, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Barney M. Landry, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant James P. Moonan, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant William J. Ritchie, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant William E. Rogers, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Horace W. Stunkard, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Bernard M. Wise, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Walter M. Wotipka, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Russell M. Bandy, Jr., A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Erhardt G. Schmitt, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Edgar A. Rogers, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Joe W. Savage, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Edwin C. Hurlburt, A. S., Assistant .Engineer Officer 

Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Charles H. W. Berry, A. S.,Assista?it Engineer Offi- 
cer Field 2 

37 th Aero SquADRON 
First Lieutenant Malcolm C. Wall, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Francis U. Wilcox, A. S., Adjutant Field 7 



APPENDIX 251 

First Lieutenant Foster R. Rozar, A. S., Engineer Officer Field 7 
First Lieutenant John N. Murray, A. S., Assistant Adjutant and Mess 

Officer Field 7 
First Lieutenant Thomas L. Onativia, A. S., Tester Field 7 
First Lieutenant Wilbur B. Stonex, Moniteur Field 7 
First Lieutenant Harry F. Thomas, A. S., Moniteur Field 7 
Second Lieutenant Dracos A. Dimitry, A. S., Moniteur Field 7 
Second Lieutenant George W. Bogardus, A. S., Supply Officer Field 7 

43 d Aero Sojjadron 
Second Lieutenant Thornton T. Perry, A. S., Commanding 
Second Lieutenant Earl R. Crebbs, A. S., Engineer Officer 
Second Lieutenant T. C. Thorp, Infantry, Assistant Adjutant Field 12 
Second Lieutenant Edward E. Webster, A. S., Supply Officer 

101 st Aero Sojjadron 
First Lieutenant George S. Walden, A. S.$ Commanding 
Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Niedermeyer, A. S., Moniteur Field 5 
Second Lieutenant Lloyd M. Dudley, A. S., Moniteur Field 5 
Second Lieutenant Herbert L. Kindred, A. S., Moniteur Field 5 
Second Lieutenant Howard E. Williams, A. S., Moniteur Field 5 

149 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant John B. Hayes, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant John C. Wiler, A. S., Engineer Officer 
Second Lieutenant Howard C. Riley, A. S., Supply Officer 

158 th Aero Squadron 

First Lieutenant Phil E. Davant, A. S., Commanding, Duty with Police 

and Prison Officer 
Second Lieutenant Kenneth S. Hall, A. S., Supply Officer 
Second Lieutenant Freeman A. Ballard, A. S.,Duty with Engineering 

Department 

173 d Aero Sojjadron 
First Lieutenant Joseph B. Irving, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Thomas P. Sultan, A. S., 0. 1. C. Training Field 7 



252 APPENDIX 

Second Lieutenant Morgan J. Flaherty, A. S., Adjutant 

Second Lieutenant Roscoe C. Griffin, A. S., Assistant Engineer Officer 

Field 7 
Second Lieutenant William G. Barnes. A. S., Assistant 0. 1. C. Training 

Field 7 

257 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant Ray Traxler, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant George J. Lay ton, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Strong B. McDan, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Samuel C. Smart, A. S., Moniteur Field 9 
Second Lieutenant Arthur L. Lott, A. S., Supply Officer 
Second Lieutenant Richard P. Carlton, A. S., Assistant Engineer Officer 
Field 9 

369 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant Robert Edmisson, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Walter J. Zapp, A. S., Supply Officer 
Second Lieutenant Paul E. Smith, A. S., Engineer Officer 

372 d Aero Squadron 

First Lieutenant Theodore W. Koch, A. S., Commanding 

Second Lieutenant Victor G. Paradise, A. S., Supply Officer Squadron, 

Entertainment and Athletic Officer Field 1 
Second Lieutenant S. G.Farris, A. S.,Duty urith Engineering Department 

374 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant Paul C. Bellow, A. S., Commanding 
Second Lieutenant William J. Peddie, A. S., Si/pply Officer 
Second Lieutenant Henry Frink, A. S., Engineer Officer 

640 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant William G. Rector, A. S., Commanding 
Second Lieutenant Fred H. Belford, A. S., Duty uith Engineering De- 
partment Field 3 
Second Lieutenant John F. McCormick, A. S., Supply Officer Field 10 



APPENDIX 253 

641 st Aero Squadron 

Captain Boyd F. Briggs, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Lewis A. Smith, A. S., Duty ivith Aero Supply 
Second Lieutenant George B. Keeler, A. S., Supply Officer Field 10 
Second Lieutenant Stanley G. Wilson, A. S., Duty with Aero Supply De- 
partment 
Second Lieutenant Wilbur B. Stonex, A. S., Supply Officer Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Clay E. Smith, A. S., Squadron Supply Officer 
Second Lieutenant Oliver T. Massey, A. S., Adjutant 
Second Lieutenant Frederick B. Andrews, A. S., Duty with Training 
Department 

642 d Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant Robert G. Alexander, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Donald F. Gilbert, A. S., Duty with Construction Officer 
Second Lieutenant John H. Cozzens, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
Second Lieutenant John J. Flaherty, A. S., Duty with Aero Supply ', 

0. I. C. Entertainment 
Second Lieutenant Giles J. Leath, A. S., Company Duty 
Second Lieutenant Maurice J. Freeman, A. S., Didy with Aerial Gun- 
nery Department 
Second Lieutenant Bayliss W. Hunter, A. S., Duty with Executive Officer. 
Second Lieutenant Lowell W. Bassett, A. S., Adjutant 
Second Lieutenant William K. Donaldson, A. S., 0. 1. C. Field Service 

644 th Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant John H. Clayton, A. S., Commanding 
First Lieutenant John G. Fleming, A. S., Transportation Officer Field 8 
First Lieutenant George S. Vincent, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Lewis H. Steward, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Royce D. Hancock, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 
Second Lieutenant Samuel E. Lawyer, A. S., Moniteur Field 8 

801 st Aero Squadron 
First Lieutenant Edward Fenway, A. S., Commanding, Adjutant Field 2 
First Lieutenant Jacob S. Yerger, A. S., Adjutant 
First Lieutenant George W. Forrester, A. S., 0.1. C. Field 1 



254 APPENDIX 

First Lieutenant Henry L. Badham, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Gerald C. Bishop, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant William E. Cameron, A. S., Moniteur Field 1 
First Lieutenant Harry O. Fishel, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Irvin J. Higgins, A. S., Moniteur Field 1 
First Lieutenant Frederick W. Horton, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Charles R. Mackan, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Walter W. Randolph, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant George E. Smith, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Gerritt V. Weston, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant James R. Worthington, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
First Lieutenant Charles P. Maloney, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Russell C. Gates, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Russell Gomes, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Howard B. Hankey, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant John Q. Kiler, A. S., Moniteur Field 1 
Second Lieutenant Rodman B. Montgomery, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant John H. Thompson, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Franklin H. Devitt, A. S., Moniteur Field 1 
Second Lieutenant John B. Swen, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant John P. Morris, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Lyle C. Smith, A. S., Moniteur Field 2 
Second Lieutenant Orah G. Douglas, A. S., Supply Officer Field 2 

802 d Aero Sojjadron 

Captain Oliver B. Wyman, A. S., Commanding, Adjutant Main Bar- 
racks Division, Trial Judge Advocate, General Court- Martial 

First Lieutenant Lee F. Lanham, A. S. , 0. 1. C. Telephone and Telegraph 
System 

Second Lieutenant James O. Craig, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 

Second Lieutenant Murchie R. Thomas, A. S., Duty with Maintenance De- 
partment 

1104 th Replacement Sojjadron 
First Lieutenant Oris P. Embleton, A. S., Commanding 
Second Lieutenant William M. Reck, A. S., Duty with Maintenance De- 
partment 



APPENDIX 255 

Second Lieutenant Robert N. Landreth, A. S., Duty with Ae.ro Supply 

Second Lieutenant H. P. McLaughlin, A. S. 

Second Lieutenant James B. Doles, Engineers, 0. I. C. Railroad System 

1 st Company, 2 d Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 

Captain Charles W. Babcock, A. S., Commanding, 0.1. C. Machine 
Shops 

3 d Company, 2 d Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
Captain Oakley Bolton, S. C, Commanding 

First Lieutenant Otto H. Lambrix, A. S., Assistant 0. I. C. Machine 
Shops 

12 th Company, 3 d Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
Captain Robert P. Oldham, A. S., Commanding 

Second Lieutenant Frank R. Meyer, A. S., Duly with Engineering De- 
partment 

13 th Company, 3 d Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
Captain Albert Roberts, S. C, Commanding, Inspector Outlying Fields 
First Lieutenant Mathias P. Molburg, A. S., Company Duty 

11 th Company, 4 th Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
Captain Frank Ondricek, S. C. , Commanding, Labor Officer Third A. I. C. 
Second Lieutenant Earnest Young, A. S., On Detached Service 

12 th Company, 4 th Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 

Captain Frank Connell, S. C, Commanding 

First Lieutenant George O. Reynolds, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 

Second Lieutenant Elisha C. Howes, Jr., A. S., Assistant Maintenance 
Officer 

13 th Company, 4 th Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
First Lieutenant John F. Bligh, F. A., Commanding 
First Lieutenant Harley F. McCurdy, A. S., Assistant Adjutant Main 

Barracks Division 
Second Lieutenant Henry F. Hauserman, A. S., Athletic Officer, Third 

A. I. C. 



256 APPENDIX 

14 th Company, 4 th Regiment, Air Service Mechanics 
Captain Robert A. Nelson, S. C, Commanding 
Second Lieutenant Donald B. Regester, A. S., Company Duty 

Headojjarters Detachment 
Major Howard S. Curry, A. S., Commanding 
Captain Charles A. Hill, A. S., Executive Officer 
Captain Arthur E. Simonin, A. S., Duty with Training Department 
First Lieutenant Thomas A. Flaherty, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant Bradford B. Locke, A. S., Adjutant 
First Lieutenant Raymond L. Suppes, A. S., Garden Officer 
First Lieutenant Edwin T. Macbride, A. S., Duty with Training Depart- 
ment 
First Lieutenant Merrill T. Miller, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant John J. Lyons, A. S., Duty with Aerial Gunnery De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant Lyman G. Vollentine, A. S., Duty with Maintenance 

Department 
First Lieutenant Charles E. Branshaw, A. S., Duty with Q. M. C. 
First Lieutenant Robert L. Richardson, A. S., Duty with Q. M. C. 
First Lieutenant Russell L. Duval, A. S., Headquarters Detachment Per- 
sonnel Officer 
First Lieutenant Frank G. Dennison, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant Frank E. Martin, A. S., 0. I. C. Assembly 
First Lieutenant Irving S. Morange, A. S., Instructor at Field 10 
First Lieutenant Thomas O. Dye, A. S., Duty with Training Department 
First Lieutenant Charles R. Knox, A. S., Duty with Aerial Gunnery De- 
partment, Instructor 
First Lieutenant Rex F. Gilmartin, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 
First Lieutenant John Willard, A. S., Unassigned 
First Lieutenant A. H. Young, A. S., Unassigned 
Second Lieutenant Ben A. Calhoun, A. S., Duty with Aero Supply 
Second Lieutenant George A. Dooley, A. S. , Dity with Maintenance De- 
partment 



APPENDIX 257 

Second Lieutenant S. V. Trent, A. S., Duty with Engineering Depart- 
ment 

Second Lieutenant Marius Rocle, A. S., Claims Officer , Third A. I. C. 

Second Lieutenant Edward M. Riggs, A. S., Duty with Engineering De- 
partment 

Second Lieutenant Frederick H. Mead, A. S., Duty at Field 12 

Second Lieutenant Gordon W. Clark, A. S., Duty with Information Offi- 
cer 
Second Lieutenant Harold F. Rouse, A. S., Duty with Personnel Officer 
Second Lieutenant Samuel S. Stevens, A. S., Intelligence Officer •, Third 

a. i. a 

Second Lieutenant Frank C. Brigham, A. S., Headquarters Detachment 

Personnel Officer 
Second Lieutenant Adrian Cote, A. S., Athletic Officer 
Second Lieutenant Theodore Jefferson, A. S., Detachment Supply Officer 
Second Lieutenant George N. Lockridge, A. S., Assistant Adjutant 
Second Lieutenant R. H. George, A. S., Gosport Instructor 
Second Lieutenant A. N. Burkholder, A. S., Gosport Instructor 
Second Lieutenant Davenport Pogue, A. S., Gosport Instructor 
Second Lieutenant W. F. Rittman, A. S., Avro Instructor 

70 th Prisoner of War Escort Company 

Captain Alonzo Pelham, C. A. C, Commanding 

First Lieutenant L. W. Bowman, Infantry, Supply Officer 

Company E, 26 th Engineers 
First Lieutenant D. W. Blakeslee, Engineers, Commanding 

Headojjarters Detachment, 128 th Engineers 
Major LeRoy H. Byam, Engineers, Commanding, Maintenance Officer 
Captain Fred B. Dawes, Engineers, Adjutant 

Company A, 128 th Engineers 
Second Lieutenant Clinton A. Bushong, Engineers, Commanding 
Second Lieutenant R. W. Young. Engineers 

Company B, 128 th Engineers 

Second Lieutenant Thaynes Williams, Engineers, Commanding 



258 APPENDIX 

Company B, 1 1 th U. S. Marines 

Major Harry K. Pickett, Marines, Commanding, Police and Prison Offi- 
cer, Commanding Main Barracks Division, Member Board of Investi- 
gation 

Captain Joseph C. Bennett, Marines, Company Duty 

First Lieutenant Merritt A. Edson, Marines, Company Administration 

Second Lieutenant John M. McGregor, Marines, Officer of the Day, Com- 
pany Duty 

Second Lieutenant Miner P. Gross, Marines, Officer of the Day , Company 
Duty 

Second Lieutenant Eldred I. Rawles, Marines, Officer of the Day, Com- 
pany Duty 

First Lieutenant Herbert L. Arnold, Medical Corps, Duty with Camp 
Hospital 

Q. M. C. Detachment 

Major Charles W. Godfrey, Q. M. C, Depot Quartermaster 
Captain Charles A. LaSalle, Q. M. C, Disbursing Officer 
First Lieutenant Charles M. Stivers, Q. M. C, 0. 1. C. Subsistence 
Second Lieutenant William J. Cotty,Q. M. C, Commanding Bakery De- 
tachment No. 334 
Second Lieutenant Milton Marks, Q. M. C, Officer in Charge C. & E. 
Second Lieutenant George Beyer, Q. M. C, Assistant to D. Q. M. 

(Finance) 
Second Lieutenant Oswald F. Stremmel, Jr.,Q. M.C., Assistant to 

D. Q. M. 
Second Lieutenant J. H. Neal, Q. M. C, Assistant to D. Q. M. 
Second Lieutenant I. C. Rosenthal, Q. M. C, Commanding Detachment 
Company B 345th Labor Bn. 

Medical Detachment, Camp Hospital No. 14 
Major William G. Noe, M. C, Commanding, Surgeon 
Major Everett G. Brownell, M. C, G.-U. Specialist 
Major John J. McKenna, M. C, X-Ray Specialist 
Captain Herbert N. Barnett, M. C, Adjutant 
Captain Charles F. Clayton, M. C, Surgeon 
Captain James R. Earle, M. C, Surgical, Nose and Throat 
Captain Waldo C. Farnham, M. C, Duty at Field 9 
Captain Alston Fitts, M. C, Medical 



APPENDIX 259 

Captain Charles D. High, M. C.,Didy at Field 5 
Captain Harry V. Jackson, M. C, Duty at Field 8 
Captain Joseph L. McLaughlin, M. C, Medical 
Captain Percy D. Moulton, M. C, Duly at Field 7 
Captain Eugene Palmore, M. C, Medical 
Captain George A. Stevens, M. C, Bacteriologist 
First Lieutenant James W. Allbritain, M. C.,Duty at Field 14 
First Lieutenant Morris Auslander, M. C, Medical 
First Lieutenant Leon J. Barber, M. C, Surgeon 
First Lieutenant Joseph A. Belott, M. C, Duty at Field 12 
First Lieutenant Charles H. Brownlee, M. C. , Pathologist 
First Lieutenant James J. Dickinson, M. C, Far, Nose, and Throat 
First Lieutenant Sigurd H. Kraft, M. C, Medical 
First Lieutenant Frank R. Nothnagle, M. C, Surgical 
First Lieutenant Edgar E. Rice, M. C, Surgeon 
First Lieutenant Clyde R. Van Gundy, M. C, Duty at Field 7 
First Lieutenant Sidney J. Vann, M. C, Duty at Field 9 
First Lieutenant LeRoy J. Wheeler, M. C, Medical 
First Lieutenant Robert E. Wilson, M. C, Sanitary Inspector 
First Lieutenant Ronald E. Esson, M. C, Assistant Adjutant 
First Lieutenant William M. Barron, M. C, X-Ray 
First Lieutenant Adolph Wood, M. C, Duty at Field 2 
First Lieutenant Garland M. Herwood, M. C, Duty with Medical Re- 
search Unit No. 1 
First Lieutenant Charles R. Farnham, M. C, Surgeon 

Dental Corps 
Captain Austin R. Killian, D. C, Dental 
First Lieutenant Joseph A. Schiller, D. C, Dental 
First Lieutenant Elmer Steiner, D. C, Dental 

Medical Research Board 
Colonel William H. Wilmer, M. C, Commanding 
Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard G. Rowntree, M. C, Executive Officer 
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Horn, M. C. 
Major James L. Whitney, M. C. 
Major Edward C. Schneider, M. C. 



260 APPENDIX 

Major Robert R. Hampton, M. C, Flight Surgeon, Third A. I. C. 

Major William C. Meanor, M. C. 

Major William F. Patton, M. C. 

Major Robert S. McCombs, M. C. 

Major Wilson M. Bassett, M. C. 

Captain Eugene Cary, M. C. 

Captain Claude T. Uren, M. C. 

Captain Floyd C. Dockeray, Sn. C. 

Captain Conrad Berens, M. C. 

Captain Frank M. Hallock, M. C. 

Captain Harold F. Pierce, Sn. C. 

First Lieutenant Wilbur M. Blackshare, M. C. 

First Lieutenant Harvey W. Kernan, Sn. C. 

First Lieutenant Prentice Reeves, Sn. C. 

Second Lieutenant Harold W. Gregg, Sn. C. 



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